Cursed To Forget
by moonlightrurouni
Summary: "I-I can't remember. Why can't I remember?" They say that the feeling of first love is unforgettable. But what happens when those cherished memories are ripped away from you? What happens when you whole life is taken away and you can't remember that one person who is the keeper of your heart? Companion to Doomed to Remember
1. Chapter 1

**hello fanfiction world! Moony is back with a new story-squee!-! ANAKIN WHOM I HAVE CHARACTER-NAPPED! THE BALOONS AND STREAMERS!**

**Anikin: yaaaaaaay...-throws baloons and streamers up into the air half-heartedlly-**

**anyways, this is a VERY special fiction for a VERY special reason: it is a collab that I have written with the wonderful TheCatWithTheHat, whom you may recognize as the author of "Lost and Forgotten' as well as "My Espada Boys"...which is going to get updated soon. Right?**

**anakin: and you're asking who?**

**ANNIEWHO, ENJOY!**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything, but I have character-napped anakin, for more details of that story, check out MorganBanner's "Beyond the Veil" there is an omake chappie that explains that whole ordeal ^^"**

* * *

**CURSED TO REMEMBER: Chapter one**

She never though that she'd feel safe here. In the palace of the night, in the vast desert of white sand. Away from her friends, whom she regarded as family. Away from the people that she had sworn to protect. She didn't think that she'd ever feel love, or safety, or comfort, or compassion. But she had found it. Given it to the Espada who once didn't believe in the heart. He made her feel safe. Wanted. Protected. He was the one who chased away the blue men, and the monsters that threatened to hurt her. Being perfectly honest she wasn't exactly sure what had happened, but all that mattered was that she was with him, and he was with her, and _nothing_ would ever change that. She wanted to hold onto him and never, not ever to let go. Never wanted to forget the dark hair, the porcelain skin, not the vibrant, exhilarating green that streamed from his eyes and down his face. But the safety, the love, the protection that she had felt just a few moments ago vanished. And a new feeling rippled through her body

Orihime was scared. Very scared. It all started when he left. When that arrancar came to summon him. She knew. She knew that something was wrong. Very, very, _very_ wrong. The presence of the cruelly sneering arrancar only justified that thought. Orihime stiffened, shifting her weight, turning ever so slightly away from the other girl.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't Aizen-sama's_ poco mascota_." Loly bared her teeth threateningly at her. "Where's Ulquiorra-sama, _poco mascota_?" she spat, grabbing Orihime's arm and yanking her up roughly. Orihime flinched as Loly's fingers dug into her skin. A soft whimper escaped her lips, and Loly's sneer became a feral grin. Loly's face twisted into a gross parody of a sympathetic face. "Is the _poco_ _mascota_ hurt? Is the _poco mascota_ in pain?" She spat, digging her unnaturally sharp nails into Orihime's skin. "Ohhh, sorry _poco mascota_, are you going to go crying to Ulquiorra-sama now? Are you going to go crying to _Aizen-sama?_" Loly's grin only widened when she saw Orihime's clenched jaw and closed eyes.

"Loly stop that." Melony muttered from the doorway, looking around warily. "Just get her out of there so that we can get our job done." Loly turned to snap at her when someone cleared their throat from the hallway.

"What are you two idiots doing here?" A male's voice drawled. Stepping into the room the lithe arrancar smirked at Loly, who was gritting her teeth in anger as she glared daggers at the feline arrancar.

"Ggio. What the hell are you doing here?" The thirty-third arrancar snarled angrily as the sabre-toothed arrancar sauntered into the room like he owned the place.

"Barragan-sama convinced Aizen-sama that an arrancar of sufficient _competence_," Ggio smirked down at the furious arrancar who could only gnash her teeth in rage, "To lead this operation."

"What operation?"

The two arrancars looked at the human girl in surprise. Orihime looked at them, defiance in her eyes. "What operation?" She repeated, the pins in her hair glowing threateningly. Ggio smiled down at her, and Orihime felt her brief spark of confidence flicker for a second.

"You see, _princessa, _Aizen-sama has decided that you're to be moved. Today. Right now." Ggio explained, his hand snaking into his pocket. "Your guardian is to be changed as well."

Orihime felt fear stab her heart. No. No. NO! "Is Ulqui…Schiffer-sama not sufficient enough? Who is to be my guardian other than the Quatro Espada?" She asked quietly.

Loly and Ggio shared a look, and a flash of understanding went through the former's face. Ggio smiled at her. "You see, _princessa, _Aizen-sama has decided that you are to be moved to another location and placed under the care of another Espada. Barragan-sama to be specific." Ggio explained.

Orihime stared at him in disbelief and horror. "N-NO! I refuse!" She shouted without thinking, then clapped her hands over her mouth when she realized what she had said.

Loly looked like she was going to murder her, but Ggio just smiled, almost sadly. Then he disappeared. Orihime's eyes widened and she took a step back only to bump into a sturdy body. "Sorry _princessa_, you don't have a choice." Ggio whispered into her ear, pressing a piece of cloth to her face. Instictively, Orihime inhaled whatever was in the cloth, and immediately she began loosing consciousness.

'_Ulquiorra…!'_

:-:-:-:-:-:

"_I have brought her to you as you have asked Barragan-sama." _

Orihime felt her eyelids flutter. What was going on? Wh-what had happened? Loly had came again to harass her…then…then the tiger-like arrancar came in. Grivo? Helio?

"_Good. You there!" _

Orihime heard the sound of flesh hitting flesh, and sound of someone's body hitting the ground. She was confused. So confused. What was going on? There had been something in the cloth. Yes, the arrancar had pressed a cloth to her face. A cloth of what? Orihime's head hurt. A soft wimper rang through the otherwise quiet room, as well as a soft ruffling noise.

"_You! Get up!" _The second voice snapped, low and gravelly. Barragan. Barragan, that's who the voice belonged to.

"_Oi. Ggio. Go easy on the damn chloroform next time, will you? Princessa isn't showing any signs of waking up anytime soon." _A third voice grumbled, and Orihime felt her body being shook slightly.

"_But she is _still_ be-ea-UTIFUL, even unconscious. I only thought that only the greatest, _I, _the beautiful, spectacular-"_

Orihime knew that something was wrong. She was hearing things weirdly. Everything echoed. Pulsed. Her head hurt. Her head _hurt._

"_Someone, PLEASE shut him up…"_

"_You're one to talk Ggio."_

"_Silence!" _The voice of Barragan roared, and the echoy voices immediately stopped. _"Now, does anyone else feel pain in their heads?"_

Why were they silent? Why was he asking that? Why couldn't she answer. '_My head HURTS! It _HURTS!' She wanted to scream. Why couldn't she scream?

"_Che. It seems like your abilities aren't all talk, now are they brat? Release. Use your powers."_

"_She must be awake." _A softer, feminine voice whispered softly. Orihime knew that the person was whispering but it sounded like she was screaming into her ear.

"_Abirama. Wake her up."_

"_Wakey, wakey princessa. We are in need of you…"_

Orihime's eyes finally fully opened to see eight people standing around her, all men except for the whispy pale girl, with a white circlet around her head. "Hurts…head…hurts." She mumbled weakly, her arms reaching up sluggishly in an attempt to rub her temples.

"Well? What are you waiting for brat?" The elderly man growled, shoving the lone female arrancar towards Orihime.

"I…need an image of who or what she needs to forget. Ideally the actual person or object." There was the sound of snapping fingers, and one of the male arrancars-the biggest and tallest- left for a moment, only to come back dragging a slumped body with him.

"Will this suffice?" The elderly man-Barragan Orihime realized- asked in a mocking tone.

"Vanish, Recuerdos Perdidos."

Orihime's eyes flew open and she let out a terrible wail, clawing at her head frantically. "It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, IT HURTS!" She felt the person holding her flinch in surprise, but she didn't care, she just wanted it to _stop_. "My head! It Hurts!" she screamed, her vision tinting red, the sensation of hundreds and hundreds of knives stabbing into her head.

"Do not scream. It will end. I promise." A soft voice whispered into Orihime's ear and the human girl froze feeling two _things_ suction onto the side of her head. "It will all end…when you forget. Raise his head." The phrase was a command.

Orihime's felt her body lean forward against its own will, white trendlils hanging from her temples. Eyes snapping open Orihime saw dark hair, a circular hole in the base of a person's throat, a single ebony white horn, and finally green tears, streaming down the person's face. Green. Green. _Green_. The brightest colour, the most memorable colour amongst the white and the black. The colour washed through her mind, even as the same soft voice whispered.

"Borrar…"

'_Green…' _Orihime thought, as her body fell forward, and her mind went blank.

* * *

**ehhhh short ish, but oh well...**

**some helpful notes:**

**poco mascota: little pet**

**princessa: princess**

**borrar: erase**

**sooo yeah. REVIEW PLEASE! BECAUSE THEY ARE LOVED! hope that you liked it! check out its counter part "Doomed to remember" by TheCatWithTheHat, READ IT! ITS AWESOME! anyways, s****ee you soon!**

**-moony**


	2. Chapter 2

**Horrays! New chappie :3 But is is JUST me or is there once again no new bleach/naruto/nurarihyon no mago update again this week?**

**Anikin:...Am I supposed to care?  
Moony: INDEED YOU ARE UNLESS YOU WISH TO BE DUMPED INTO A VAT OF SPARKLES!  
Anikin: -coughs- yes, uh, indeed, this is terrible...  
Moony: yahumn, that's what i thought...ANI-CHAN! WILLTH THOU SAYETH THE DISCLAIMER...ETH?  
Anikin: PLEASE tell me that you DO NOT have Shakespere homework.  
Moony: ...  
Anikin;-sighs- should've known...Moonlightrurouni doesn't own Bleach, nor me. However I am stuck on a psysic leash and am unable to escape from this crazy person's clutches.  
Moony: and that's how you'll be staying for a good long while...**

* * *

"Orihime."

…

"Orihime."

…

_Who are they calling? Is that me? Is that my name?_

"Orihime. My sweetest princess, Orihime, will you wake?"

"Are…are you calling me?" Eyes open and the girl sits up slowly, looking around at her surroundings in confusion. "Where am I?"

The man sitting beside her bed sighs and smiles gently at her. "I'm so glad that you're awake. I was so scared that the whole ordeal with those evil shinigami would have traumatized you permanently."

The girl looks at the man with brown hair, a single strand falling into his face. "A-Aizen." she breathes. Wait. How does she know? How does he know her, and how does she know him?

The man stands up from his seat and sits on the bed, leans forwards and presses his lips against her temple. "Can you remember anything, dearest princess? Tell me what you remember." He says softly. The girl looks up at him with fearful eyes and shakes her head. "Come now, you can trust me. You're safe here." He promises. "Tell me what you can remember. Start with people."

"I-I can't remember. Why can't I remember?" She breathes, "There's a boy with orange hair, a-and a girl with black hair that's spiky like the boy's. And there's a tall dark skinned boy, and another boy with glasses, a-and-!" The girl clutches her head as it begins to pound fiercely. "Why does it hurt? What's going on? Why can't I remember?" she asks, her eyes widening, and panic seeping into her voice.

"Shhh. That's to be expected." The man- Aizen- says in a soothing voice, wrapping her into his arms. "Calm down, dearest princess, you're safe."

"Why do you keep calling me that?"

Aizen smiles down softly at her. "You remember your name, don't you? If you do, try and remember its meaning."

"Orihime…Hime, it means…princess, right?" she asks hesitantly, looking up at him. He beams back.

"Correct, Orihime-chan."

Orihime looks down bashfully. "I don't remember, but why?"

An angry expression passes over Aizen's face and she immediately looks down in fear. "Gomenasai! I didn't know that I spoke out of turn," she says quickly, eyes refusing to move from her lap.

Aizen shakes his head. "No, no, no Orihime-chan, you are mistaken, I am not angry at all with you, but rather at those people."

"Why?"

"Because they were the ones who tortured you."

"What?"

Aizen raises a hand and stroked Orihime's hair. "You must promise not to fret, alright? They kidnapped you from Las Noches. They wanted the special gifts that you possessed. Your Shun Shun Rikka." Here he pauses and run a finger gently over the two hair pins that held her bangs back. "They wanted to use you against me and the rest of our family."

"Family?"

"Aizen-sama." A soft voice says, followed by a soft tap on the door across the room.

Aizen stood and sat back down into the chair. "Come in." He says.

Orhime watched as a lithe girl, probably a couple years younger than herself -sixteen. Yes, that's how old she was, sixteen- walk into the room. She wore a simple outfit, a hakama and plain jacket. Her dark hair was shoulder length, and a circlet sat on her head. The only extraordinary feature of hers was her eyes. Orihime mouth dropped open slightly in surprise. There were glassy and lacked pupils. She was blind.

"Please Aizen-sama, she is healing still. Her body may not be able to take the stress if she is unable to rest enough to recover," she says, almost inaudibly, lowering her eyes to the ground.

Aizen patted Orihime's hand. "Of course. Orihime, I'd like to introduce you to one of my children- so to speak. She is the one who helped you heal from the trauma you went through while you were in the Shinigami's hands." Orihime watched curiously as the girl walked up to them slowly.

"Orihime, this is Anómino, the sexagésima sexta Arrancar."

The girl bows, and Orihime waves shyly. "Hello." She smiles shyly. "Is she my sister?" Orihime asks, looking up at Aizen hopefully. Aizen chuckles.

"You can think of it like that, dearest princess. You see, although the people here aren't family biologically, they are family in rank. Anómino is the youngest so far." Aizen explains, standing up. "She's a good girl Orihime, she will take care of you."

"You're leaving?" Orihime can't help but ask, feeling panic rise in her chest.

Aizen walks to the door but turns to smile back fondly at her. "I promise that I'll return, alright?" Orihime smiles and nods, satisfied with this answer. "Alright, Aizen-sama." She says, mimicking what the other girl said earlier.

"Please, address me as 'chichi'." Aizen waves away the formal address then walks out the door and closes it softly behind him. Orihime looks to the other girl and shifts awkwardly in her seat.

"Did you want to sit down?" she asks, patting a spot on the bed beside her. The girl- arrancar? Something told Orihime that that was the right word- flinches and shakes her head, her hair hiding the right half of her face.

"I wouldn't dare compromise the comfort of Inoue-sama." she says softly, her unseeing eyes somehow locking onto Orihime face. "Only if Aizen-sama permits it."

Orihime pouts childishly. "Will you tell me what happened? I can't remember some things. It's like…there are gaps in my memories," she says slowly. She sees her open her mouth to protest but she cuts her off. "Aizen-sama said to take care of me right? Aren't you taking care of my by telling me what happened?"

The Anómino bites her lip and hesitantly walks forwards. She pauses a few feet from Orihime's bedside and takes a deep breath. "Do you remember your Shun Shun Rikka?" She asks, and Orihime nods.

"Of course! There's Ayame and Shun'o, Baigon, Lily and Hinagiku, and, eto, oh! Tsubaki!" The human girl says eagerly, counting them off on her fingers.

"The power to reject time and space." Anómino whispers absentmindedly. "Anyways, when the Shinigami found out they wanted to use you, and-!"

"Oi! Brat! Barragan-sama is calling you!" A voice cut her off. The door banged loudly as a tall, muscular-and orange?- man burst into the room, swinging his arms ridiculously.

"Brat? Isn't that mean?" Orihime wonders aloud, turning to Anómino, whose head is lowered, and whose hands are folded neatly on her lap.

"O-ri-hi-me-chaaan! Ohhhh you look sooooooo BEAUTIFUL! OHHHH I JUST CAN'T STAND IT!" Orihime squeals in surprise as one of the men glomphs her and begins to nuzzle into her hair. "How lucky we are to be able to watch over darling, precious, adorable Hime-chan! I'm so happy that I must just be oozing be-au-ti-"

"_Cállate _Cuuhlhourne." Orihime's eyes widen as she watched the gigantic man slowly lumber into the room, ducking just to fit under the doorway.

"W-Who are they?" She stammers in awe as she watches three others follow in after. Orihime turns to the lone female Arrancar who is peeking up at them from under her bangs.

"They are the rest of Barragan-sama's fraccion. Redder Abirama. Cuuhlhourne Charlotte. Poww Choe Neng. Calius Findorr. Vega Ggio. Parduoc Niggre." Anómino breathes, eyes lowering down to her lap.

"Oi. Aren't you forgetting something?" The one that Anómino called Abirama sneers, wacking her upside the head.

"…sama. All of them, sama." The girl adds, lifting her head back up.

"Exacta. Hajimamashite, Orihime-sama." The long, blonde haired arrancar said bowing.

"H-hai! Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!" Orihime says, bowing from where she is sitting. She looks up at them all shyly. "A-are you, are you my anikis?"

Ggio eyes widen in surprise, and he turns to the Arrancar beside him. "'Anikis?" he asks incredulously.

Findorr laughs, "No es exacta, _princessa_. We are just the servants and soldiers of Barragan-sama and Aizen-sama." He explains.

"O-oh, I see." She says in disappointment. "It was just, Chichi said that, that we were all family, so I thought that it'd be alright to call you that…" She explains shyly.

There was a brief silence then, "Yes! Yes, my darling Orihime-chan, I'd LOVE for you to call me 'onii-san' and for you to be my imouto! A BEAUTIFUL onii-san with a BEAUTIFUL imouto!" Charolotte squeals, moving in to glomph Orihime, but Ggio grabs the back of his shirt to restrain him.

"Calm yourself." He commands. "You are going to hurt Orihime-sama."

"FINE! But she is our imouto! WE MUST ADDRESS HER AS SUCH!" The purpled haired arrancar cries theartially, throwing his hands up in the air. The others around him sweat-drop (metaphorically).

"What are you doing?" A gravelly voice rumbles. Orihime's eyes widens as she sees a grizzled and scarred man walk in. _You there! You! Get up!_Orihime's hand rises and goes to touch her temple as a sharp and sudden pain hits her.

"H-Hajimamashite." She stutters in surprise, as he walks up to the bed side. He stares down at him treatingly, as the other arrancars bow down. Orihime takes the hint and copies them. "B-Barragan…sama?" she adds hesitantly.

Barragan doesn't say a word for a moment, but then turns on his heel and walks back out the door. "Aizen-sama has requested the Espada as well as their Fracción attend a meeting. Bring the girl."

The Arrancar snap up to attention, "Hai. Barragan-sama." They say in unison.

"_Princessa_-chan, follow us if you please." Ggio says, going and offering her a hand. Orihime smiles and takes his hand, but nearly falls over as the world spins around her.

"You mustn't. She isn't fully healed. She must rest." Anómino, who was silent for the longest time speaks up, standing, but still not looking anyone in the eye.

Ggio sneers at her, forgetting the human girl whom he is helping to stand. "Don't you remember Abirama's words from earlier? Remember girl, you are _sin ningún valor._You may be a part of Barragan-sama's Fracción, but you are in no way our equal. Is that clear?" He asks threateningly. Anómino says nothing. Then he turns back to Orihime and sweeps her off her feet. She squeals in surprise and clutches his neck. "Does this satisfy you?" He asks, and without waiting for an answer he turns and walks out the door.

The group walks down the silent halls in silence for a few minutes, and Orihime's head spins as she tries to keep track of all the turns that they make. She glances at Ggio out of the corner of her eye, and then looks ahead, unsure if the question that the wants to ask is out of line.

"Is something bothering you, Orihime-chan?" Ggio asks, sensing her unease, his pace not faltering once.

Orihime fidgets unconsciously. "Not…exactly aniki." Ggio gives her a funny look but shakes his head in what seems to her to be amusement. "It's just…wasn't that a little mean? The way that you treated Anómino-chan." She says cautiously.

Ggio looks away for a few moments then finally speaks. "You have to understand Orihime-chan, that even though were 'family', there is still a hierarchy system that we must all follow. And that system isn't very kind to some." Orihime's eyes widen and her mouth opens, but Ggio cuts her off. "You, of course, don't have to worry about a thing-being Aizen-sama's 'daughter' and all that-but some of us have to be a little more careful. We're pretty well off because we are the Fracción of an Espada-meaning one of Aizen-sama's ten Arrancar strongest soldiers."

"Ohhh…I see." Orihime nods, and Ggio allows her to see a half smile. He nods to something ahead. Orihime turns and sees great ornate doors. She turns to Ggio, curiosity making her eyes sparkle. He gives her another half-hearted smile.

The door swings open and Orihime ducks her head as fifteen pairs of eyes land on her, all of them analyzing her in one way or another.

"Ah, I'm glad that you have finally arrived, Orihime-chan." Aizen says as Ggio sets the human girl down, and pulls out a chair for her that is on Aizen's left side. Orihime lets her hair fall into her eyes as she peeks around at the people who sit around her. She looks up at Aizen hesitantly, and he reaches out and squeezes her hand reassuringly. "Go on, introduce yourself, dearest princess."

"Hajimamashite. My name is Orihime. Yorushiku onegai shimasu." She says shyly, smiling sweetly at the people around her.

"Hey there pet-sama, how're you doing?" A lanky and dark haired man leans towards her, and Orihime shivers unconsciously as he smiles, baring all of his teeth.

"Watch your words Nnoitra." The lone female Espada says coolly, her hand fingering the high collar that obstructs the lower half of her face. She looks at Aizen who nods in confirmation. "My name is Halibel. Pleased to make your acquaintance." She adds at the end, the cold tone in her voice melting slightly.

Taking a hint from the woman, a pink haired man rests his chin on his hands and adjusts his glasses. "Quite interesting indeed, the possibilities that this implies." He muses thoughtfully, "If only I could conduct a few experiments-but never mind that," He cuts his train of thought off hastily as Aizen shoots him a dangerous look. "Greetings Orihime, my name is Szayel."

"Yammy." Grunts a massive man who is sitting at the opposite end of the table.

"My name is Aaroniero Arruruerie." The masked man who was sitting beside Yammy says. At least, Orihime thinks that it is a man. His voice alters from a deep one to a high pitched one. Orihime doesn't have time to think about it because the next Espada is introducing themself.

"Coyote Starrk." A brown haired-and very sleepy looking-man says boredly, his head on his arms.

The lone dark skinned man with strange skull earrings and spikes on his head folds his hands together and nods at Orihime. "Zommari Rureaux."

Orihime smiles at all of them, but frowns slightly when she hears the sound of muffled laughter. "Heh, heh, hahahahahahaha!" The last Espada to introduce himself throws his head back and howls gleefully. "Oh man, this is PRICELESS!" he smiles at Orihime, but she flinches as his smile reminds her of one that a cat would give to her prey. "Grimmjow Jeagerjaques. Remember it."

"Now, now Grimmjow, don't intimidate Orihime-chan like that." Aizen says patronizingly, smiling at him. "She is your imouto, remember to take care of her, won't you all?" he adds, addressing the Espada as a whole.

"Hai, Aizen-sama." They chorus, some before, some after others.

Aizen turns to Orihime. "Now, dearest musume, now you know your onii-san's and one-san's, there are two people left to introduce to you. Ichimaru Gin," He gestures to a white haired man with a wide smile who waves cheekily at Orihime, "And Tousen Kaname." He nods at a tall man with a visor over his eyes. Aizen then turns back to face the rest of them. "I have not forgotten about the Fracción that I have also summoned here, but first of all, why don't we have some tea first?"

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime set down her tea cup, and sat back in her chair. Unable to suppress her drowsiness, she held up a hand to her mouth and yawned. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she saw Aizen grinning at her in amusement.

"Are you tired, musume?" He asked gently, as she blushed, embarrassed that she must've looked disrespectful. "Do not worry yourself. I know that you're probably quite tired. I think that it's about time to retire for the day. At an unspoken signal, all the Espada stood up from their chairs in unison, their Fracción falling in behind them. "You'll get an opportunity to meet your other brothers and sisters later on, alright, Orihime-chan?" Orihime nods happily. She looks at her new family happily.

"Arigato. It was a pleasure to meet you. I hope that we'll be able to get to know each other better soon!" She beams at them, and she hears a few soft chuckles. Barragan stands behind her, and after receiving a nod from Aizen, he places a hand on her shoulder and leads her out of the room, along with his Fracción. Orihime falls in step with them, and after giving the others on last glance over her shoulder, she leaves.

Once again they travel into the elaborate maze where her room was. Glancing around, her eyes widened as she noted all the other Arrancar standing around the hallways. "W-wow. So many Fracción." Orihime breathes, looking around her in amazement. She hears someone behind her laugh, and she turns to see Ggio shaking his head in amusement.

"It seems like you're picking up on the slang already. But no, they're not. They are the Números. Other Arrancar who are not under an Espada's command. They wish to serve, so Aizen-sama assigned them here, Barragan-sama's domain within Las Noches." He corrects her, as they finally reach the door that leads to her room. He holds the door open for her and she enters followed by Anómino.

"Wait. Where are the others? Findorr-nii and Charlotte-nii and the others?" Orihime's eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Orihime-chan, we are Barragan-sama the Great's Fracción. We have a couple responsibilities that we have to tend to." He says in a proud voice.

Orihime looks at Anómino sadly. "Does that mean that you'll be going too?"

Anómino shakes her head. "I'll be staying for a while. Don't worry." She says quietly.

"Oh…alright. Goodnight Ggio-nii." Orihime bites her lip uncertainly, but then stands on her toes and gives him a kiss on the cheek. Ggio looks down at her in surprise, and she blushes. "Thank you for taking care of me onii-san. I promise to become the perfect imouto."

Ggio looks down at her in mild confusion. "Alright." He says, then turns and leaves. Orihime waves as she watches him go, then skips over to the bed and flops down on it, sighing in exhaustion.

"So…do you _have_ to leave?" She asks, as she settles down into the downy sheets. Anómino nods her head.

"I'll have to go now…" She sits down on the side of her bed, looks at Orihime shyly from under her bangs.

"What will I do while your gone?"

The Arrancar girl reaches inside her jacket pocket and pulls out several pieces of lined parchment and an elegant fountain pen that seems to be made of ivory. "Here." Orihime takes them in awe, and gently runs her fingers over the intricate design that is carved onto the pen. A shark, teeth bared threateningly wraps its way around the pen, waves foaming around it. "Why don't you write in your free time? Like letters…or something." Anómino suggests softly, standing up and walking towards the door.

"Okay. But who should I write them to?" Orihime asks, looking up from the pen.

Anómino shrugs and exits. "Goodnight, Orihime-sama."

Orihime places the paper and pen on her bedside and sticks her tongue out at her retreating back. "Hey, you can call me 'nee-chan' you know. We're sisters right?"

"…Goodnight, Onee-sama…"

* * *

**sexagésima sexta- sixty sixth**

**chichi-father**

**_Cállate- _shut up**

**Hajimamashite- Pleased to meet you**

**aniki(s): brother(s)*note: I'm not sure is that's actually the plural...-.-" I apoligize if it's wrong. If someone knows the proper word for please tell me...**

**imoto: little sister**

**princessa: princess**

**Yorushiku onegai shimasu: please take care of me**

**musume: daughter**

**just to clarify, that kiss on the cheek that Orihime gives Ggio is in no way romantic. It's the kind of think that you'd do to someone who's in your family kinda thing. So yeah. :) hope that you guys liked it! Don't forget to keep up with Ulquiorra's perspective of the story with "Doomed to remember" by TheCatWithTheHat. Anyways, please REVIEW!**

**-moony**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hello dear peoples and welcome to the third chapter of Cursed to forget. I apoligize in advance if it sounds/is written kinda crappily because well, school has been a pain and I had no time to work on this -.- as always, GINORMONGOUS THANKS to all those who have reviewed and I hope that you enjoy it!**

**also, don't forget to check out TheCatWithTheHat's "Doomed to remember" which is the companion to this story.**

**DISCLAIMER: no i don't own it...**

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CHAPTER THREE

_Dear _,_

_I know that you probably can't tell, but it's very, very early in the morning here-not that I would really know. The sky inside the dome never changes, and outside it's always night…so does that mean that if I'm inside the dome it's morning, and if I'm outside it's night? Actually never mind, that's off topic. But yeah, basically, I'm not sure what time it is, all I know is that people are still asleep-so I have to whisper if I want to talk. Ggio-nii and Anónimo-chan still haven't come back, but I did find a little red bean bun on my night stand when I woke up. I bet that it was An__ó__-chan. It doesn't seem to be in Ggio-nii's character to do something like that, and I don't know Abirama-nii, Findorr-nii, Choe-nii, or Niggre-nii well enough to know if they'd do it…but Charlotte-nii might. But, then again, I doubt that he'd be quiet enough not to wake me, judging by how he greeted me yesterday (^^)"._

_Anyways, do you like my nickname for Anónimo-chan? I like it, only, it sounds exactly like "ano", like the sound that you make when you don't know what to say. I guess that that shouldn't be her nickname then…what do you think? I kinda feel bad for Mino-chan (actually, no, that doesn't sound right as her nickname either. If I had to pick, 'An__ó__' is a better one than 'Mino'.). The others seem to treat her unfairly. Brotherly love perhaps? I guess that I'll have to ask her myself, now won't I? What do you think _?_

_I know that it probably hasn't been that long since I was with the others, but I'm lonely. And…I've had time to think about something. I remember somethings now too. The faces that I had remembered before? Now I remember names: Tatsuki-chan, Sado-kun, Ishida-kun, and Kurosaki-kun. And, and I think that Kurosaki-kun is really special to me. I can _feel_ it. There's…eto…how to explain it. Hmmm…a pull? Yeah, something like that, a pull that I feel when I think about him…it's just it hurts. And it makes me sad when I think about it. There's another girl's face. She's really small-shorter than me!- and she's wearing black clothing, and is holding a sword. Is-is she a shinigami? Tou-san says that they're very bad, is that why I feel a little envious and jealous when I think of her? I'm still really confused._

_But, talking to you _, it makes me feel safe. I feel like, like I just drank a whole mug of hot chocolate full of melted marshmallows with wasabi and soy sause drizzled on top! That's how you make me feel :3 I love drinking hot chocolate like that, it's the best way to drink it, don't you agree? Anyways, I hope that you're doing okay where ever you are _. I really miss you! Write back to me as soon as you can, okay?_

_\(^3^)/_

_-Inoue Orihime_

Orihime rolls onto her back and stretches out, her fingers brushing the headboard of her bed. She twirls the pen around her fingers and looks over the letter she has written in the early hours. She doodles in little sketches of smiling faces, and in the bottom draws a chibi girl with long hair and flower pins at the side of her head. Orihime bites her tongue in concentration as she works on drawing the arms of the girl, outstretched towards another person. She begins to add him into the picture, and gets in a body that is wearing a white outfit similar to her Onii-sans-white hakama, black boots with white details, and a white jacket- but, she stops when she get the point when she needs to draw in the face. The pen wavers uncertainly over the paper, and it ends up sketching a generic face structure that could belong to anyone. Orihime rubs her temples in frustration, as a headache comes to life as she tries to remember the person's facial features. After five minutes of this, Orihime pouts in frustration and results in just randomly doodling in his face, drawing this:

(3w3)

She takes a look at her handiwork and begins giggling uncontrollably at how ridiculous it looks. Orihime is still laughing as someone knocks on her door twice. "C-come in." She says between giggles as she places the pen and papers into the drawer of her nightstand. Ggio walks in, followed by Anónimo who is carrying a tray of food.

"Ohayo, Orihime-chan." Ggio says, sitting down on her bed side.

"Ohayo Ggio-nii! Ohayo Anónimo-chan!" Orihime chirps, sitting up and beaming at the both of them. "How did last night go?" She asks as Anónimo places the tray full of various types of sushi in front of her.

Ggio looks confused for a moment then nods with understanding. "Oh that? Eh, as usual. Aizen-sama just wanted to inform us of some things."

Orihime pops a piece of sushi into her mouth. "Am I allowed to know? Or is it 'onii-san classified'?"

Ggio smirks. "'Onii-san classified.'" Orihime nods understandingly. "But hey, I do have some news for you."

Orihime perks up and leans forward inquisitively, her right cheek bulging as she sticks the piece of sushi there so that she can talk around it. "Whawt ish it nii-san?" She asks.

"Remember how Aizen-sama said that you were going to get to know the rest of your-our siblings?" Ggio corrects himself at the last second, but Orihime doesn't notice, distracted by the Hello Kitty that Anónimo skillfully made out of the different types of sushi. "The Findorr and the rest have other things that they have to attend to of course, but I will be accompanying you around as you meet the rest of our family. Barragan-sama specifically entrusted myself with this task." Orihime smiles as she hears the pride in Ggio's voice when he says it.

Then Orihime's eyebrows furrow, and she glances at Anónimo. "Matte, what about Anónimo-chan?" She asks, reaching out and clasping the girl's hand in her own, even as the Arrancar girl ducks her head.

"She'll be staying here."

Orihime pouts. "Does she have to stay? Why can't she come?" But she lets Ggio help her out of her bed and accepts the fresh clothes that he pulls out of the closet at the other side of the room.

"Help her change. I'll be waiting outside."Ggio simply says, more to Anónimo than Orihime and exits.

Silently, Anónimo takes the folded clothes out of Orihime's hands and helps her put it on. "You know, I kinda want to give you a nickname, Anó-chan." She says casually, testing out the first nickname that she thought of. Anónimo's eyes widen almost comically and Orihime winches. "No?" She gets a head shake back. Orihime concentrates for a couple of seconds and Anónimo sweatdrops (metaphorically) as a (metaphorical) lightbulb pops up over Orihime's head. "Alrightie…well…In Spanish, 'a' makes something sound feminie right? So…Ammonia?" In response she receives an extremely confused and a half insulted, half amused look.

"The thing that you use for cleaning?" Anónimo asks, pinning the cape into place.

Orihime's mouth drops open and she waves her hands out in front of her. "NO! wait, gomen! I didn't mean it like that!" She apoligizes frantically. The girl smiles and straightens the cape that rests on Orihime's shoulders. Anónimo hesitates then looks up at her.

"The others call me _nada…_"

Orihime opens her mouth to agree, but then freezes. "Wait a second, doesn't that mean nothing? Why would they call you that?" She asks in disbelief.

"Because that is what I am. That is what I do. What I create. _Nothing." _Anónimo says bluntly, as if she is completely fine with it.

"But that's _wrong!_" Orihime protests, but Anómino waves her off.

"Ggio-sama is probably getting impatient." The arrancar just says and leads her out of the room. She bows when she sees Ggio and he doesn't acknowledge her, instead offering a hand to Orihime.

"Ready to go Imouto-chan?" he asks, and Orihime takes his hand reluctuently as they walk away. After getting out of ear shot, Orihime glares at Ggio angrily. The Arrancar notices and looks at her in confusion. "What? Did I do something wrong?" he asks.

"Anónimo-chan told me what you guys call her. Why are you so mean?" She demands, turning her head away from him.

"What?"

"She told me that you call her nada. As in nothing. Why?"

Ggio stares at her in disbelief. "And why did she tell you that?"

Orihime whips her head around, her sunset orange hair flying around her, "Because I wanted to give her a nickname, and she told me that that was what you called her. That's unfair! How can you call out little sister that? She's the baby of the family, isn't she? We should be encouraging her, not calling her names."

Ggio's gaze hardens. "You don't know what you're talking about Orihime." He says cooly.

Orihime steps in front of him and forces him to come to a stop. "Well from what I can see, I _do _know what I'm talking about, and if I'm wrong, please explain to me so that I understand!" she ends with a shout.

"Yare, yare, I'm trying to sleep here…" The tall brown-haired man that introduced himself as Coyote Starrk sticks his head out of a door across from them and glares at them lazily. "Could you keep it down-ULP!" his sentence is cut off as a young girl whacks him upside the head and sneers at him angrily.

"BAKA! AIZEN-SAMA SAID THAT HIME-NEE IS SUPPOSED TO VISIT, OR DID YOU FORGET DOBE?" She shouts at the top of her lungs, punching him in the gut.

"A-ano, please don't fight!" Orihime stammers after getting over her initial shock. The Espada and his fraccion stare at her for a moment, then the girl speaks up.

"You're…Hime-nee…aren't you?" the girl says slowly, and Orihime nods hesitantly. A tick mark appears on the girl's forehead.

"WHAT DID I TELL YOU BAKA-DOBE! NOW WE'VE MADE A BAD IMPRESSION ON HER!" Lillynette shouts angrily, punching him again.

"You're the one who jumped me…"

"Fine, true, BUT THAT'S IRRELEVANT!"

Ggio looks awkwardly onwards then clears his throat. "I have other duties that Barragan-sama has entrusted to me. I'll come by and fetch you in an hour…" he says before turning on his heel and walking away. Orihime smiles nervously and waves at his retreating back.

"Finally, I was waiting for that jerk to leave…" Orihime turns in surprise to see the blonde girl all calmed down with her arms crossed and a satisfied look on her face. "Gomen. I don't always act like that, it's just I wanted to get him outta here. Him and the rest of Barragan-sama's fraccion. Ugh, they're all so stuck up…"

Starrk looks down at the girl. "Lilynette…you _always_ act like that…"

Lilyette scowls at him. "Do not." She says sticking out her tongue at him. Orihime giggles quietly and Lilynette turns and plants a hand at her hip and sticks it out to the side. With her other hand she raises it and makes a peace sign. "Hiya! I'm Lilynette Gingerbuck, pleased to me ya! That lazy idiot is Starrk." She says stabbing her thumb in his direction.

Orihime beams at him. "Uhhun, we've met, at the last meeting, right Starrk-san?" he grunts and heads back into the room, flopping down onto the pile of pillows and blankets, and promptly clocks out.

Lilynette rolls her eyes. "See what I have to deal with every day?" Orihime laughs and steals a pillow, hugging it to her chest.

"So are you Starrk-nii's fraccion?" She asks the young girl curiously, grey eyes shining.

Lilynette sits across from her and kicks her feet up onto her own pillow. "Ehh, I guess that you could call me that. But I'm more like his partner in crime!" she adds at the end with a mischievous grin.

"What do you mean?"

"Well…before, we were actually one hollow. A very powerful one. And really lonely too…" Lilynette says nonchalantly , but Orihime could hear a sad undertone in her voice. "Where ever we went, everyone would vanish…too scared or something." She scoffs half-heartedly. "So we split into two…that way, we'd always have company…"

Orihime frowns sympathetically, then crawls forward and hugs the younger girl. Lilynette freezes then relaxes. "I know how you feel. I lost my biological nii-san in a car accident when I was young…" She says, unsure why she is just remembering this, but knows that it is true. "We were each other's family. So, I guess what I'm saying is that I know how you feel. But, you have a really, really big family now ne? It's not just you and Starrk-san, but you have Halibel-san, and Jeagerjaques-san, and, even though you don't seem to like him a lot, Ggio-nii and everyone else, and me!" Orihime throws her arms out grins cheekily at Lilynette, who grins right back.

Standing up, she offers her hand to Orihime who takes it, and she stands as well. "Did you eat yet? Because I'm hungry."

Orihime shakes her head. "No, not yet."

Lilynette grabs her hand and pulls her out of the door, "Oi! Starrk! We're going to the kitchens! And we're not gonna bring anything back for you!" She shouts over her shoulder, as she pulls the human girl along.

"N-nani? Are we even allowed?"

Lilynette shrugs, "Well, it's not like there are guards to the kitchen. It's honestly mostly for Aizen-sama, Tousen-sama and Ichimaru-sama, but Espada and their Fraccion are allowed as well. . Like, if someone ever feels like eating human world food." She explains as she pulls Orihime through the corridors, finally ending at a large open concept kitchen with an island in the milddle. She lets go of her hand and pushes Orihime towards the fridge. "Go ahead, help yourself. Pots and pans and the like are in the top shelves." Lilynette points, then hurries off to loot around the lower cabintes.

Orihime opens the fridge curiously and claps her hands happily when she sees that it's fully stocked with various items. "Hmmm, what should I make…" She muses aloud. Suddenly she snaps up and a (metaphorical) light bulb appears over her head. "I know!" Orihime begins snatching thing from the fridge, moving over to the cabinets, taking the ingredients that she needs and piling them into her arms.

"What are you making Hime-nee?" Lilynette asks, coming up to the grinning girl, who is shifting through the various pans that are stacked in the higher shelves.

"Lilynette-chan, do you know if you have a square pan?" She asks, "Oh wait! Found it!" Orihime bring the pan down and puts it on the stove, adding some oil and putting the heat on high. "As for what I'm making," Orihime pauses and dramatically cracks an egg into a bowl and begins wisking it with some chopsticks. "You'll just have to find out."

Lilynette pulls up a chair and watches her in curiosity as Orihime adds all of the ingredients that she had taken, then pours half of the mixture into the pan. After letting it cook and repeating the process, she places the two rolls on two separate plates and cuts them into several pieces. "Taadah!" Orihime says proudly, holding one plate out to Lilynette, "Inoue Orihime's specially made, original recipe, tamagoyaki!"

Lilynette laughs, and Orihime sits beside her, handing her a pair of chopsticks. "Itadakimasu!" They say in unison and the begin eating. Lilynette pops a piece of the tamagoyaki into her mouth and her eyes begin sparkling, as she gasps in awe.

"O-orihime-neesama, this, this is amazing!" She says in a reverent tone, her eyes glued to her plate. "What did you use to make it?"

Orihime grins, "I'm so happy that you like it Lilynette-chan! And I used coriander, red pepper, bacon, sugar, mirin, salt, pepper, oyster sause, mustard, cinnamon, ketchup, cheese and red bean paste!"

Lilynette's eyes widen and she looks at Orihime like she grew an extra head. "N-nani?" She asks weakly. "Did you actually?"

"Yup! …Is something wrong Lilynette-chan, you look a little green…"

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**hehehehehehe, the ending was fun to write XP**

**RANDOM FACT OF THE DAY: Mr. Bean (Rowan Atkinson) is the voice actor for Zazu. I don't know about you but for me: mind=blown  
and if some of you don't know who Zazu is...-shakes head disapprovingly-**

**anyways, hope that you liked it, and please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**WHOOT EXTRA LONG CHAPPIE! XD Hello all, once again, big shout outs of thanks to those who've reviewed, faved or suscribed. It makes me feel loved :3 So, I hope that you're liking the story so far, and, just as a heads up, the next update might be, hrmn, how to put this...delayed...because of that joyful thing called Exams TT_TT. Meh, easy semester (ish)**

**And if anyone has seen Anikin, whom appears to have vanished to please notify me, since I havn't authorized his release from my posession...**

**DISCLAIMER; I own nothing except for the plot. I wish that I owned anikin too, but obviously I dont...**

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CHAPTER FOUR

_Dear _,_

_Hi! It's Orihime again, but you probably know that already ^^". I had the most amazing day yesterday! I don't know what to tell you first! Okay, okay, to make it easy, I'll tell you about my day in order. First, Ggio-nii and Anónimo-chan came to get me and told me that I was going to spend time with my other brothers and sisters and-wait a sec, I've never told you about Ggio-nii and Anónimo-chan yet have I? Well, I did in my last letter, but I didn't really tell you a lot about them…Any who, I'll start with Ggio-nii. Being perfectly honest, I think that he's kinda cute :3 in a 'big brother' kind of way. He has black hair that's really, really dark and pretty, and he keeps it in a braid. He has this thing on his head called a 'mask fragment' or 'bone fragment', and it's shaped like a sabre-toothed tiger's skull! So cool, ne? I'm not really sure how to describe what his uniform looks like…well, all of his clothing (like everyone else's here… not sure why…maybe chichi likes it? The colour I mean. Because they're all majorly white.) his jacket is mandarin-styled, and he wears a hakama like everyone else. The only real difference is that his hakama is a little thinner than the traditional kind. Anónimo is a little different. For starters, she…well, I don' know how to explain it any better, but she's, well, bleached out. She's very pale, and has light blue hair, the colour of winter snow, or ice. Her eyes are the same colour, except they're more glassy. She's blind…She looks two years younger than me, and she wears a hakama too, and she wears a kimono jacket. I've never seen or asked where her hollow hole is, but I know that her estigma (that's the coloured pattern on her face) is a light blue too, but I can't see much of it since it's mostly hidden by her hair…but yeah, back to my story. So they came to pick me up, and I tried out those nicknames for Anónimo-chan that I told you about yesterday-which didn't work out :'(- and I found out that some people would call her 'nada', as in nothing! How could they be so mean? I know that you'd feel the same way_, you'd be angry too, ne?_

_Anyways, I asked Ggio-nii about it, and he didn't tell me. Humph. So he took me to hang out with Starrk-san, and I got to meet Lilynette-chan, his 'partner in crime', as she calls herself. Lilynette-chan is really cute! We went to the kitchens together and I made her my special tamagoyaki! It has a lot of my favourite ingredients like red bean paste! Lilynette-chan really seemed to like it, but when I told her what special ingredients I had put into it she began turning a little green. It was really strange, why don't they like it? I bet that you would've liked it, ne_-kun?_

_Another kinda funny-well, more like interesting-thing happened _-kun. See, we were tidying up when I accidentally let the bottle of soy sauce that I had used dropped on the floor, (it was amazing! It actually didn't break! I should get one of those next time I go to the convenience store. I bump into things a lot, so if I had that, then I'd know that I wouldn't break it!), and rolled out into the hallway. I went to chase after it and nearly smashed into another Arrancar! Of course I apologized, and went to look for the bottle of soy sause, but he handed it to me. He seemed really nice…he didn't say anything to me, but instead turned and walked away with the two other people who were with him. It was really strange, he had a very pained expression on his face. Oh! You don't think that he slipped on the bottle of soy sause and hurt himself, do you? Ahhh, I'd feel soooo bad if he did…The people who were with him didn't seem like that though. They seemed more curious than whatever that guy was feeling. The girl kinda reminded me of Anónimo-chan, because she had a similar mask fragment. I asked Lilynette about them, but she didn't really tell me much. She just said that they were probably some numeros that one of the Espada without a Fraccion, like Grimmjow-san-oh! Someone's coming _-kun! I have to go now, because Anónimo-chan says that I shouldn't let people see me writing these letters! Maybe they'll think that were lovers or something, and we haven't told Chichi! :P Just teasing! I know that you're special _-kun, but I still don't remember if it was in that way…Kyaaah! Someone's knocking at the door! Gotta go!_

_Lots of love,_

_Inoue Orihime :3_

Orihime quickly puts the paper and the pen into the drawer at her bed side. "Come in!" She calls, standing up and smoothing out her rumphled clothes.

"Hey Princesa, looks like your hanging out with me today." Orihime struggles not to flinch as the tall and muscular male walks up to her and grins widely. "What? Got nothing to say? You make me sad pequeña mascota."

Orihime opens her mouth to speak but there's a flash of golden light and the man yells in confusion and surprise.

"DON'T. YOU. KNOW. THE. MEANING. OF. PERSONAL. SPACE?" The little fairy roars in a surprisingly deep voice compared to his size.

"What the hell?"

"GET. OUT. OF. HER. SPACE. OR. ELSE. I. WILL. KOTEN. ZANSHUN. YOU. ASS. INTO. OBLIVION. _**GOT IT BLUEBERRY FAIRY FLOSS?**_" He threatens, yanking and pulling the man's face and bright blue hair.

"_**WHO ARE YOU CALLING FAIRY FLOSS YOU MOTHER FU-"**_

"Tsubaki, please, stop!" Orihime shouts, attempting to snatch him out of the air, but the fairy easily dodges her.

"I'm you're only offensive attack Hime-sama. You'd never say anything against anyone, even if he was an idiot like this guy,"

"HEY, I'M RIGHT HERE YOU KNOW!"

"Meaning that responsibility falls on me ne?" He finishes, crossing his arms stubbornly.

Orhime laughs nervously at the awkwardness of the situation. "W-well Tsubaki-kun, I'm a-okay right? So, no harm done? I'm supposed to be getting go to know Grimmjow-san, ah sama, anyways so…you can go and rest."

"Che." Tsubaki shoots one last glare over his shoulder, to which he receives the finger, but he returns to his dormant state none the less.

"Ah, gomen ne. Tsubaki-kun is really protective…but he means well." She apologizes, bowing.

"Keh. Feisty little bastard. Annoying as hell, but heh." Grimmjow grunts, then walks over to her bed and flops down on it. He glances up at her confused and shocked face. "What? Am I not allowed to relax?" Orihime shakes her head mutely, but stays rooted in place. There's a silence as Grimmjow shifts on the bed, trying to find a comfortable position. "Well? Are you going to come over and 'get to know me'," he says the end sarcastically, "like Aizen-sama said we were supposed to do, or are you going to stand there like a deer in the headlights all day?"

Orihime frowns, and sits down on the bed beside him. "I am not 'a deer in the head lights'." She says quietly, unsure why that particular comment irked her. Grimmjow arches an eyebrow at her disbelievingly. "I am not. I'm not afraid of you either." She says firmly, and Grimmjow rolls up, his exposed chest muscles rippling as he rises to sit up.

"Oh, really? You're not afraid of me." He doesn't phrase it as question, but Orihime shakes her head. "Not even when I do this?" he leans in close to her face, and bares his teeth at her, like a predator who has just corndered his prey.

Orihime swallows and takes a deep breath. "No. You are my aniki. You don't scare me." She says quietly and with just as much conviction as earlier. She looks up and meets his eyes, knowing that if she doesn't, she'll fail the test that he is giving her.

Grimmjow's grin impossibly becomes wider. "Looks like you do have a little spunk in you. I like that princesa." Orihime allows herself to grin. "You pass." He adds in approval, even though she can sense a slight disappointment.

"You didn't think that I'd pass?"

"Well, you're always screaming for that bastard Kurosaki aren't you?" he points out, falling back into his laying down position. Orihime flinches, as unwanted memories rise up in her, and shame ripples through her body. Grimmjow senses this and his eyebrows knit together. "What? Frustrated?" Orihime bites her lip and nods. "Why?"

"B-because I'm not strong enough…because I have to rely on someone else to fight my battles."

"And you don't like that?"

"…no…"

"…"

"…"

"And what If I said that I would train you? Make you stronger?"

Orihime's eyes widen hopefully and she turns to the blue haired arrancar. "Honto? You would?" she asks, thinking it's too good to be true.

Grimmjow shrugs. "Why the hell not? It's not like there's anything else more interesting to do around here." Orihime moves to hug him when he adds, "But on one condition."

Orihime pauses, as she takes his outstreatched hand. "What?"

"Fight me off first." He simply says, then yanks her down on top of him, and crushes his lips against hers. Orihime squeaks in surprise as he begins tracing her lips with his tongue, biting them occasionally. After getting over her shock, she manages to force her head back for a split second.

"W-what are you doing?" she exclaims. Grimmjow growls and rolls, forcing her to roll along with him.

"I told you princesa. Fight me off." He growls between kisses. "Then, and only then, will I teach you how to _really_ fight." He pushes her down against the bed, but makes no moves other than continuously kissing her so that she can't speak, and trapping her hands in his own so that she cannot move them. Orihime thrashes about as his tongue explores the inside of her mouth. "You taste like red bean paste." Grimmjow comments, before biting her lips again, his tongue re-entering her mouth. As it does, Orihime gets an idea, and bites down hard. "OW!" Grimmjow throws his head back and covers his mouth in surprise. Seeing the opening, Orihime holds her hands out in front of herself.

"Tsubaki! Koten Zanshun, I REJECT!" She shouts, as the fairy comes to life, soaring towards Grimmjow's face. The Espada ducks and leaps back from the bed with feline grace. Orihime pants, and sits up, arms poised to send another attack flying at him. Grimmjow stands there for a moment in silence.

"You…bit me."

Orihime doesn't say a word, but watches him carefully, noting all of his movements, and tries desperately to keep the calm mask she is wearing in tack.

"You could've kneed me, because that option was open, but you bit me instead. Why?"

"…Because I figured that biting you would be more painful."

Grimmjow stares at her in shock, then begins to laugh loudly. "Oh Kami, this is PRICELESS!" He howls, then walks back over to Orihime. She raises her hands threateningly, but he holds his own above his head in surrender. "You've got potential, I'll give you that. Hah! Biting to get me off you." He chortles to himself.

"Wait, this, this was a test too?" Orihime asks in confusion, dropping her hands.

"Think about it princesa, a battle is a situation where you have some bastard up in your face trying to force you down. You want said bastard to get the hell out, so you go and try to get an opening to knock the ass into next week. Now tell me, what does this situation remind you of?" Orihime's mouth opens in understanding, and Grimmjow nods his approval. "Exactly my point. Besides, both are fun as hell, wouldn't you agree?"

"But did you have to kiss me?"

Grimmjow's look of satisfaction turns to surprise. "What?"

Orihime blushes, then looks down at her lap. "Nothing…"

Grimmjow leans forward. "Don't tell me, that you never remember being kissed." He asks in disbelief. Orihime nods in embarrassment. "You've never been kissed before." Orihime nods, but then freezes. Is it her first kiss? She knows that no one she knew from the world of the living would try and kiss her-being friends with Tatsuki-chan and Ichigo-kun kinda prevented that-and she remembers that she failed miserably to kiss Ichigo goodbye…ugh, why does her head hurt? Meanwhile, Grimmjow leans backwards and gives her a half smile, still showing all of his teeth. "You didn't like that? Didn't think that that should've been your first kiss?" He asks, and Orihime blushes even more, not sure if he's mocking her or not.

Grimmjow sits down beside her and tilts her chin up, but then freezes. "Hey, wait. Y-you're not _actually_ crying, are you?" He asks. Orihime shakes her head, and bites her lip, thoroughly and utterly embarrassed. "Liar! You are crying! I wasn't _trying_ to harass you or anything, I was trying to _teach_ you!" He exclaims, slowly becoming more flustered, but Orihime doesn't notice. She's too mortified to look at him.

Grimmjow sits awkwardly as he tries to calm her down. If there was one thing that he couldn't stand were awkward emotional situations. Violence. That's what fixed everything in his opinion. Someone disagreed with you, knock his ass into next week. Someone insults you, give him a good punch in the gut. Someone tries to take your prey away, _kill the freaking bastard_. But when it comes to situations like this, when violence-for once-is definitely _not_ the answer…let's just say that Grimmjow was a fish out of water. Or a cat in water. Same general thing.

Gritting his teeth, still trying to figure out what he should do so that she wouldn't cry, he just did the first thing that came to mind. Wrapping a hand around the back of her neck, he pulled her face forwards, pressing his lips against hers once again, making sure to restrain himself, kissing her gently, rather than hungrily. Immediately-and to Grimmjow's relief-Orihime's eyes widened and she shoved him roughly away from herself.

"What are you doing?" She demands, glaring at her, her arms already rising up into position.

"What am I doing? What are you doing? Geeze, I just thought that you'd rather pretend that _that_ kiss was your first, rather than that other one…" He snaps, scowling down at her. Orihime's expression of anger melts away, and she looks down, blushing again.

"O-oh…sō desu ka." She murmers. "Um, a-arigato?" She says uncertainly, looking up at him again.

"Keh."

The two of them turn towards the door as the sound of someone knocking reaches their ears. "Imouto-chan? It's Ggio, I'm supposed to take you to Halibel-sama's now." His disembodied voice says from outside from the room.

Grimmjow turns back to Orihime, and gives her a hard glare. "This. Never. Happened. I came over, we talked. I provoked you. You fought back. I agreed to train you because I thought that you had potential. Got it?" He growls, walking over and throwing the door open. "Hey there, wannabe." He sneers down at the other arrancar who just ignores him. "I'll pick you up at dusk, got it pequeña mascot?" He adds as he walks out, not bothering to look over his shoulder. "Time for me to go and collect."

"What was he talking about?" Ggio asks in confusion as he offers his hand to Orihime so that he can guide her to their destination.

Orihime opens her mouth to tell him everything, then remembers what Grimmjow said before he left. "Heheh, ano, he, um annoyed me and I um, kinda got mad at him too. So, ah, I kinda punched him and he thought that I had spunk, so he agreed to train me?" She says all in one breath. Ggio stares at her in disbelief, then shakes his head in exasperation and amusement.

"Of course, only you…" He sighs, and Orihime sticks her tongue out at him from behind him.

"Only I what?" She asks cheekily.

Ggio shakes his head again in amusement. "Would be able to pull a stunt off like that with the Sexta Espada."

Orihime's eyes widen. "Sexta? Really? That means that he's the sixth strongest, right?" She asks in disbelief. "Sugoi! Grimmjow-nii is so cool!" Ggio just laughs. Suddenly, a large boom rips through the area, and Orihime covers her ringing ears.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU MILA ROSE? YOU COULD'VE ACTUALLY KILLED ME!"A female voice screams angrily as the sounds of clashing swords echo from somewhere up ahead.

"IT'S NOT _MY_ FAULT THAT YOUR SO INCOMPETENT, BAKA-MONO!" A second female voice shouts back, and shortly after, the sound of a wall being smashed into pieces is heard.

Orihime grips Ggio's hand tighter. "Aniki…w-what's going on up ahead?" She asks anxiously, subconsciously, taking a step behind him.

Ggio rubs the back of his neck tiredly. "Don't worry Princesa, they're always like this…When you're stuck being around them long enough, you get used to it…Don't worry, I'm here, aren't I?" Orihime nods, then realizes how she must look like she needs someone's protection. Taking a deep breath, she falls back in step beside Ggio, not wanting to let her Grimmjow-nii down after proving that she can fight for herself.

"You two are always like this. When will you learn that your bickering is so utterly childish and immature?" A third voice sighs.

"WHAT WAS THAT SUN-SUN?" The first two voices roar in unison. Orihime hears the three voices meld together as they all start bickering.

"Quite." Immediately the fighting stops, only to be replaced by silence. "We have visitors."

Orihime's eyes widen in surprise. "How did they know we were close by? They can't see us yet, can they?"

"It's called _pesquia_. It's an ability that all Arrancar's have to sense the spiritual pressure around them. And because everyone's spiritual pressure is different-"

"You can tell who's coming judging by what the pressure feels like." Orihime completed his sentence, understanding.

Ggio smiles at her. "Correct."

Orihime turns then freezes, a hair's breath away from another girl's face. "So. You're Aizen-sama's princesa." The girl says flatly, giving her a hard stare. "You don't look like much."

"Your courtesy to a guest never ceases to amaze me Apacci." A second female arrancar says sarcastically, stepping up beside Apache. "Konnichiwa Ggio-sama, Inoue-sama, my name is Franceska Mila Rose. That idiot there is Emilou Apacci. It's a pleasure to meet you." She says with a bow

A tick mark appears on Apacci's face. "Hey. Why are you being so formal?" She asks suspiciously.

A tick mark also appears on Mila Rose's face. "Because Ggio-sama was born before myself, and Inoue-sama is Aizen's 'daughter'."

"…I'm older than you…why don't you call me '-sama'?"

"Because you're a stupid cow."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY YOU HAIRY SHE-GORILLA?"

A thin Arrancar lights down beside them. "You're bickering is shameful. It's a pleasure to meet you, my name is Sun-Sun."

"URUSAI! SUN-SUN!"

"H-hello." Orihime says meekly.

"You, were asking about _pesquia_, were you not? Would you like to try?" Orihime's eyes widen as a tall blonde female arrancar walks up to her, the majority of her face concealed behind her jacket, dark skin left exposed.

"Halibel-sama." Orihime says softly, bowing.

There is a short pause. "You may call me nee-san…if you wish." The Espada says, and Orihime straightens up and smiles brightly at her.

"H-hai!'

"Mila Rose. Raise your spiritual pressure. Apacci. Sun-Sun. Conceal your own, if you please." Halibel says, stepping back from Orihime. "Now. Center yourself. What do you feel?"

Orihime closes her eyes and concentrates. "I-I can feel…a pressure."

"…What is it like?"

Orihime stands in silence for a moment, then continues. "Proud? It's like…a cat…it's as if, it's hungry f-for a fight." Orihime hears the sound of footsteps walking around her, and the sound of rustling fabric.

"And what about now?" Halibel asks as a different reiatsu rises up.

Orihime lets it wash over her. "Um…nimble, I guess. I'm not really sure how to describe it. It's like…it wants to run. It wants to do whatever it wants." Orihime hears Halibel 'hmn', and she blushes because she can't tell if it's in disapproval, amusement or curiosity.

"And now?" She asks again.

"It, this one, it feels like it's sliding around. Wrapping around me." She says, with confidence.

"Very good Orihime-chan." She hears Halibel say, and she also hears Halibel's fracción murmer in agreement. "Do you think that you can tell me which reiatsu belonged to which of my fracción?" She asks. "Try telling me in order."

"M-mila Rose-san was the first, you asked her to go first so, um, hehe. Second was Apacci-san, a-and third was Sun-Sun-san?" Orihime answers, cracking open an eye to peek at them.

Mila Rose leans back and nods in approval. "Huh. Nice job princesa-chan, you got it right." Orihime's mouth opens and she beams at them. Apacci walks over and slings an arm over her shoulder.

"Heh, I think that I like you Hime. You came in the middle of our training session. Wanna watch?" She asks, guiding her over to where Halibel was standing earlier.

"And it would be alright for you to call us 'nee-san' as well." Sun-sun adds, gliding past the two of them.

Halibel joins Orihime, and she looks at her with kind eyes. "My fracción approve of you. And after you only being able to distinguish and describe their reiatsu. That is rare." She comments. Orihime blushes and gazes down at the ground. "Do not take it as a bad thing. That just means that you will be more accepted into our group. Family if you will." Orihime hears this and looks up at her with a hesitant smile.

"Arigato, Halibel-nee."

"DEVOUR! LEONA!"

"THRUST! CIEREVA"

"Strangle to death, Anaconda!"

Orihime's hair flies around her as their spiritual pressure flares, and her eyes widen as she sees them when the dust dies down. "Nani?"

Halibel watches and gauges her raction. "You've never seen Resurrection before?" She asks. Orihime shakes her head, as Halibel begins to explain. "Think of it as a power up. We regain traits that we had as Hollows, and are now able to use powers that we don't usually possess."

"Ohh…" Orihime nods, then returns to watching the other girl spar. The human girl and Espada sit in silence as they watch the fight. About fifteen minutes later, Orihime feels Halibel's gaze on her, and she turns to her ane. "Is something wrong nee-san?"

Halibel's eyes search her face, but Orihime isn't sure what to make of it. She can see something in her eyes. A pitying look. "Do you have something for me Orihime?" She asks.

Orihime's eyebrows knit together. "Huh?" Halibel's eyes disappear from view, hidden behind her bangs.

"Sō ka…" She murmurs.

"Orihime-neesama?"

Orihime turns in surprise when she hears her name. Standing a couple meters away, by the doorway that she and Ggio entered by is Anónimo.

"Anónimo-chan!" Orihime cries, as she stands up to greet the younger girl. "What are you doing here? Where were you this morning, I missed you!" Anónimo steps back in surprise as she is hugged fiercely by the human girl.

"I deeply apologize for disturbing you Halibel-sama, but Aizen-sama has asked to have tea with Orihime-neesama…and he has asked me to help her prepare…" The young arrancar says quietly.

Halibel nods. "I expect you see you again soon Orihime-chan." She says, glancing over her shoulder at Ggio who had sat down behind where they were sitting earlier. Keeping her back to him, Halibel wraps her arms around Orihime and hugs her, her hands wrapping around Orihime's waist. Orihime returns her hug, but freezes as she feels Halibel's lips up against her ear. "Orihime-chan, do you know what the Spanish word for the colour 'green' is?" She asks, her voice barely audibly, dispite the face that she is speaking into her ear.

"Uh, uh." Orihime shakes her head slightly from side to side, not knowing why Halibel is being so secretive.

"The word is 'verde'. Lágrimas Verde, do you know what that means?" She asks, then pulls back from her hug as Ggio stands and starts walking towards them. Halibel shakes Anónimo's hand, then she places that hand into her pocket. Then she nods her farewell and returns to watching her fraccion sparr.

Orihime blinks uncomprehendingly, as Ggio and Anónimo to guide her away without any protest. _Lágrimas…verde. Green?_

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime sighs as she flops down onto her bed. "You have a half hour Onee-sama. I'll come back soon with your change of clothes. "Anónimo says, and she exits the room, closing the door behind her to give Orihime privacy.

Orihime stares at the ceiling. "Green…hmm…Green." She muses aloud. "Verde. Verrrrrrde." She giggles to herself as she lets the 'r's roll off her tongue. "Verrrrrrrrrrrrrde." She rolls onto her stomach and laughs, but then pauses as she hears the sound of crinkling paper. Orhime immediately, and searches for where the noise is coming from. She looks around on the bed, then reaches down to her waist, where her black sash is tied. She pulls out a folded piece of paper that was trapped there, hidden behind the cloak that she wears over her shoulder. "Huh?" On it is angular and sharp writing.

_Destroy this._

It simply says, and Orihime's brows furrow as she unfolds the piece of paper, revealing smooth and elegant handwriting, obviously belonging to another person. She sits in awe at how beautiful it is, but then stiffens as goose bumps appear on her arms. She has never seen it before, but then why does it seem so familiar? Why does she reverently trace the letters that spell her name? Why did Halibel-neesan tell her about the colour green? Why does the phrase 'Lágrimas Verde' seem to resonate throughout her body? Why does her head hurt when she tries to remember?

"Orihime-neesama?"

Orihime quickly stuffs the letter into her side drawer, and lies back down on the bed, doing her best to make it look like she was doing so the whole time. "C-come in!" She calls out, mentally slapping herself for stuttering.

Anónimo walks in and Orihime stands up, holding her hands out to accept the clothes. But Anónimo shakes her head, almost mischievously. "Close your eyes. I want Nee-sama to be surprised."

Orihime giggles, and obediently closes her eyes. She feels the new clothing come to a rest lightly on her skin. Silk, she thinks, as her arms fall to her sides, the fabric flowing with the movement. Anónimo's fingers brush her hair, as she teases it, then places something on her head.

"Open your eyes."

Orihime gasps when she sees her reflection. She is wearing a pure white kimono, only the obi and hem of the sleeves a dark ebony black. A solid black circle rests over her heart, and a white circlet, with a single jewel on it rests on her head. "Sugoi…the jewel is the same colour as your eyes Anónimo-chan." Orihime says in awe as she twirls once on the spot.

Anónimo smiles. "I'm glad that you like it nee-sama." She says, offering her hand and leading her out the door. Orihime sees Ggio, Choe, Findor, Abirama, Niggre, and Charlotte waiting for them in the hallway. "Konnichiwa, anikitachi!" Orihime calls happily, waving at them enthousiastically. They all turn towards her, and Orihime sees Ggio's mouth open to greet her, when his jaw drops, and there is a stunned silence. Orihime blinks owlishly as they come to a stop in front of the men. "Ggio-nii? Daijobu desu ka? You look…eto…"

"Speechless." Ggio finishes her sentence for her, a wide grin appearing on his face. "If I didn't know better, I'd think that you were an arrancar Hime-chan."

"OH. MY. GOODNESS. I KNOWW! Oh! You're BEAUTY darling imotou-tan, it's unfathomable! One day, your looks may pass even mine!" Charlotte gushes, moving to glomph Orihime, but he is restrained by Findorr. "Do you _want_ to mess up her clothing?" Charlotte's look of horror is so severe that it's comical, and Orihime desperately tries to stifle her laughter. "Exacta. Thought so." Orihime can't help but laugh. She hooks her arm through Charlotte and Findorr's, then grabs Ggio and Abirama's hands and pulls them in, along with Anónimo into a semi-group hug.

"That's my Anikitachi! And imouto-chan of course!" She adds, ruffling the younger girl's hair. Running a couple steps ahead, she turns back and beams at them. "Ikuze!"

Ggio snickers, then turns in the opposite direction. "Hime-chan? The throne room is this way."

Orihime sweatdrops in embarrassment as the others laugh at her fail. "Hehehe, my mistake…."

:-:-:-:-:

"Chichi!"

Aizen turns and opens his arms, and the human girl tackles him, hugging him tightly. Shaking her hair out of her face, she smiles up at him. "I haven't seen you in a while chichi, have you been busy?" Orihime asks, her gray eyes wide in curiosity. Aizen laughs good-naturedly.

"You could say that, dearest musume." He then turns to the rest of Barragan's fraccion. "Thank you for safely delivering my daughter to me. You are free to mingle with the others." He says, gesturing to the other Arrancar wandering about the throne room. They all bow, murmuring "Hai, Aizen-sama.", then leave. Aizen walks back to the throne where he sits down, gesturing for Orihime to take the small cushioned seat beside him. "How have you been, Orihime-chan? Have you spent time with all of your siblings?" he asks.

Orihime shakes her head. "Not yet Chichi. I've spent time with Halibel-neesan, Grimmjow-niisan, Syzel-nii, and Starrk-san and Lilynette-chan though." She says, listing them all of on her fingers. Aizen nods thoughtfully.

"How was your visit with Syzel?"

Orihime grins nervously. "Well, we didn't really do much. It was interesting though! He showed me around his lab, and I played with his fraccion for a little bit…" She says. "Syzel-nii was somewhere else-doing some special nii-san classified stuff-but we had tea together with Gin-ojisan." Orihime presses her index fingers together timidly. "I didn't tell them, but it was really nerve-wracking, sitting in the lab…" Aizen smiles at her sympathetically, and pats her cheek reassuringly.

"As long as you are with me, you will always be safe, my dearest princess." He says, then proceeds to gaze back down at the Arrancar wandering about. Orihime doesn't speak either, feeling like Chichi likes sitting in silence. As her eyes wander the room, her face breaks out into a smile, and she stands and starts waving her arms, trying to get someone's attention. "Konnichi wa!" She shouts, unsure if he can hear.

"Who are you trying to say hi to Orihime-chan?" Aizen asks casually, watching her wave her arms comically. "Is it that man with the green eyes?" Orihime shakes her head.

"Nope." She says, then turns back and keeps waving. "Nii-san! Konnichi wa!" She shouts again, and this time he looks up and nods. Aizen chuckles. "Would you like to go down and say hi properly?" He asks. Orihime nods enthusiastically, and by some unseen signal, an unknown arrancar came and pluck her off the ground, and before Orihime could say anything, said arrancar carried her down from the throne and onto the ground floor.

Looking back up Orihime shouted, "Arigato, Chichi!" then sprinted off to her nii-san, oblivious to all of the disbelieving and curious stares that followed her.

"Nii-san!" She yells, just as she jumps and moves to wraps her arms around his neck. Grimmjow doesn't even turn, but instead, bends, causing Orihime to overshoot him. Just as she's about to fall face first into the ground he straightens, and after a little shifting around, Orihime finds herself sitting on his shoulders. "Nii-san! Put me down! I'm going to fall!" She squeals as Grimmjow suddenly pitches forwards, causing her hands to knot into his bright blue hair.

"Baaaka. Do you seriously think that I'd ever let you fall?" he asks, and he smirks. Orihime giggles, then realizes that she's not the only one with Grimmjow. The other arrancars that she had met the day before in the kitchens are there as well.

"Oh! I remember you!" Orihime says, smiling at them. "Sorry I didn't introduce myself properly last time, hajimamashite! I'm Inoue Orihime, or," Orihime pauses and touches a finger to her chin thoughtfully, thinking aloud. "Is it Aizen Orihime, since that's what Chichi's last name is."

"Oh! So _you're_ Orihime! Wow! Pleased to meet you, I'm Emiko! That's Daisuke, and this is Ulquiorra-sama!" the girl says cheerfully, waving up at Orihime.

"Konnichi wa Daisuke-kun, Ulquiorra-kun!" Orihime says happily. "Ne ne, Grimmjow-niisan, are they your fraccion?" she asks curiously, pulling Grimmjow's hair lightly. He laughs, then begins to walk away. "Later emo-spada!" He calls over his shoulder as he walks away from them with Orihime perched on his shoulders, the latter whacking Grimmjow's head, nagging him to focus his attention on her.

Orihime gives the three of them one last glance before asking Grimmjow about his day.

* * *

**O_o Le gasp. We shalth be seeing Orihime reaction to the letter next chappie...hope that you liked it, and please don't forget to REVIEW! Also don't forget to check out the companion to this story "Doomed to Remember" written by TheCatWithTheHat. It should be updated in an hour or so...**

**random fact: It is rumored that there will be an american adaption of the manga "Death Note" (stab stab stab stab) . It is also rumored that Zac Efron will be Light/Raito (NOOOOO!)...however, apparantly he has actually read the manga, and is a fan...my respect for him has risen...but if he is cast as Light...-growls-**

**REVIEWS ARE LOVED AND APPRECIATED!**

**-moony**

**p.s has anyone else read the most recent bleach chapter? RENJIIII! RENJI MY RED PINEAPPLE LOVE! DON'T DIEEE! and once again Bya-sama, you are king of epic enterances -dreamy look on face-**


	5. Chapter 5

...  
**Hello all. I think that it's safe to say that I am mildly tearful/depressed at the moment. Why you may ask? Three reasons: the most recent Bleach chapter, (SPOILER: UWAAAHHHH! SHIRO-CHAAANNN! WHY WON'T YOU ANSWER HIM? HYORINMARU! HYORINMARUUUUUUU!TT_TT) and the Naruto chapter (SPOILER: -bawls eyes out- I'LL LOVE YOU FOR EVER TOO ITACHI! SAY IT! SAY IT TO YOUR NII-SAN DAMNIT!) -sniffle- and yeah, exams are this week too -.-" horray for procrastinating...but yeah I FOUND ANIKIN! XD**

**anikin: -hands over tissues- And I was so close to escaping... -depressed-**

**Moony:..actually, there is a another reason for my sadness, and this applies to DTR too. Me and TCWTH were freaking out because we didn't hear anything from reviewers until half a week passed :( sad moony was sad. But anywho, thanks a bunch to the anonymous reviewer and Hell's Beast for reviewing! I dedicate this to you guys :)**

**ONWARDS!**

**DISCLAIMER; I own nothing except for the plot. I wish that I owned anikin too, but obviously I dont...**

**anikin: thank god you don't...**

**moony: -GLARE-**

* * *

CHAPTER 5

_Dear _,_

_KYAAA! I have really, really, really important news! I HAVE A SECRET ADMIREER! Halibel-neesan slipped me a letter yesterday when I went to visit, ( I won't tell you about it right now, there are more important things that I have to tell you about!) and it was the sweetest thing that I've ever read! His hand writing is really pretty, and it looks strangely familiar for some reason…It looks like his own personal calligraphy! I wish that I could write like that…He talked about how Halibel-neesan suggested that he should write to me, and about how sad and lost he was feeling without me. I almost cried when I read his letter _! He told me about how traumatic it was for him, how lost he was when we were separated. He told me about how much he loves me, and he told me about myself. That sound's weird, doesn't it _? But the reason why is because he knows that I lost all of my memories. When I read it, it felt like someone had punched me in the gut. Why? Why couldn't I remember this? I feel so bad _, he loves me, but I can't remember anything about him! He didn't get a chance to finish his letter either….or sign his name…Why can't I remember? Why am I not __**allowed**__remember? Arrghh, it's all the shinigami's fault!  
_

_I spent some time with Chichi yesterday, and he told me about how horrible the shinigami were. He said that they kidnapped me from the Living World, saying that they'd kill all my friends, Tatsuki-chan, Ichigo-kun if I didn't go with them. He also told me about how they erased my memory of my friends, and of my time in Las Noches, where Chichi had hidden me for as long as possible to keep me safe. How could the shinigami be so cruel? How could they take away something like that from me! Chichi told me that they brainwashed Ichigo-kun into becoming one of them after Gin-oji and Tousen-oji rescued me! How could they! How DARE they? __**I'm**__ the one they wanted, wasn't I? How could they involve Ichigo-kun? I hate them! I hate the shinigami!  
_

_…Wow…what outburst was really unlike me, wasn't it…_. That's the thing that makes me the saddest. I remember my past…But there are so many gaps in my memories. Like you. You're name, your face. I don't know who wrote the letter to me, but I know that you were just as important to me as the person who wrote the letter. The person told me about Sora-nii…apparently I told him a little about him. Now that I think about it…I miss him so much…  
a-and…I miss you….  
-Aizen Orihime_

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime grunts as she throws the hardest punch that she can at Grimmjow's gut, her other hand held up protecting her face. Grimmjow nods, then swings his own arm to throw a hook at Orihime's head, which she quickly ducks underneath. Pivoting around her right leg, the girl throws an upwards back elbow strike to the center of Grimmjow's chest, forcing him to step back. As he does, she hooks her foot around the back of his, and pushes him down. Grimmjow hits the ground, but easily turns his fall into a backwards summersault. The two of them stare each other down for a while, then Grimmjow breaks out into a grin.  
Picking himself up off the ground, he walks over and lowers himself to Orihime's eyelevel. "Those strikes actually might've tickled that time princess. Good job. You remembered the footwork too…" He praises her, patting her once on the head. Orihime beams up at him.

"Thank you nii-san." She chirps, then stands on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. But before she can, Grimmjow puts a hand on her shoulder and stops her. Orihime tilts her head in curiosity, but doesn't comment. He was okay with a kiss on her lips, but not one on the cheek? She gives him a once over, and her eyebrows knit together as she notes the dark shadows under his eyes, and his extremely unruly hair. Well, more unruly than usual. "Nii-san, daijobu desu ka?" she asks. Grimmjow shakes his head, but freezes as the sound of footsteps come up from behind her.

"Wow, I didn't know that you were going to hog little Pet-sama all to yourself Grimmjow."

Orihime turns around slowly to see the lanky, dark haired Espada looming over her. She swallows subconsciously and takes a small step back. "N-nnoitora…san?"

Nnoitora reels back, pretending to be shocked. "You hurt me, Pet-sama, why so distant? Just call me," the Espada bends and brinks his face a hair's width from Orihime's, the girl's eyes crossing as he does so. "Nnoitora." Reflexively, Orihime throws a hook punch to the side of his head. Her heart sinks as it connects and he doesn't move an inch. Anger sweeps across his features. "Oh, is that how you want to play?" He snarls, reaching to grab her wrist, but a snarl rips through the area and Orihime feels herself being thrown back. Squealing in surprise, she manages to break her fall, but when she looks up, she sees Grimmjow standing over her protectively, staring down Nnoitora, a low growl rumbling though his chest.

"Back off Spoon-spada." The Sexta Espada snarls, his right hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Nnoitora sneers at him. "Don't forget _who_ won that bet bastard." Grimmjow reminds him, the cerulean haired man's rieatsu spiking for a second then returning to normal. Nnoitora looks around Grimmjow and stares down at Orihime who stares up at him defiantly. Nnoitora barks a laugh.

"She's got ya wrapped around her little finger, doesn't she?" the man laughs, throwing his head back, his mouth so wide that Orihime catches a glimpse of the number five tattooed onto his tongue. "How did I know? You're more like Ul-!" Nnoitora's sentence ends in a grunt as Grimmjow socks him in the gut.

"Get. The. Hell. Out. Now. _Got it?_" Nnoitora gives him a weird look, then turns on his heel.

"Bastard…"

Grimmjow sighs tiredly, as he steps away so that Orihime can get off the ground. Orihime glances at him curiously. "What was that all about?" Grimmjow doesn't answer, shaking his head cryptically. Orihime pouts and was about to pester him about it when she hears someone clear their throat in their background.

"Please forgive Nnoitora-sama for behaving so Orihime-sama. He isn't exactly having a good day today."

Orihime whirls around and smashes into another person's chest. "Itai!" She exclaims, rocking back instinctively. Too far back. Grimmjow shouts in warning as she begins to fall, but another pair of hands catches her before she can.

Looking up, she makes eye contact with a single gray eye framed by dirty blonde hair. There is a circlet shaped like a small upper jaw resting on their forehead, as well as an eyepatch covering their right eye. "Ah, gomenasai gozaimasu." He apoligizes. "Ano, hello Orihime-sama. I haven't introduced myself before, now have I? My name is Tesra Lindorcruz, quincuagésimo Arrancar. Fraccion of Nnoitora-sama"

"O-oh! I remember you, you were at the meeting weren't you?" Orihime recalls seeing him standing in the shadows, not saying a word. "Pleased to meet you too!" She smiles up at him hesitantly, but then her eyes widen as she locks on another of his features. Specifically, his estigma. It's nothing very special, nor eye catching like Grimmjow's. However there was one thing that made it stand out to Orihime. And that was its colour: a pale green, similar to the colour of mint. Orihime blinks rapidly as she remembers the letter that she had received, and how she seemed to know that the colour green was associated with that person. _Green? Is this the Green that I am looking for?_

Orihime steps back with a blush, and peeks up at Tesra shyly. Tesra looks slightly bemused, and he reaches out to brush the hair that had fallen into her eyes out of her face, when Grimmjow grabs his wrist.

"Aren't you going to go follow the King of Spoons?" He snaps harshly, giving the other Arrancar the dirtiest look.

Tesra shrugs, "Aizen-sama told us that it was our turn to get to know Orihime-sama. Considering the fact that you have been monopolizing her time for several days, he said that it would be alright if we were to join you." As he says this, his gaze keeps shifting back and forth between Orihime and Grimmjow. Orihime looks away, and fidgets, feeling his gaze on her.

"It's okay Grimmjow-nii. Tesra-kun can watch…can't he?" She asks hopefully. Grimmjow turns to her, and seems to be debating with himself, but eventually sighs.

He walks back to where he was originally standing, muttering angrily all the while. "You won't take 'no' for an answer, would you?" he asks grumpily, running a hand through his hair. Orihime smiles sheepishly.

"Argh, fine. But just this once."

:-:-:-:-:

"Here. It is getting late. I will walk Orihime-sama to her room." Tesra stands and offers a hand to Orihime, who is sweating and panting from the spar. She beams at him, and is about to take his hand when Grimmjow knocks her feet out from under her, then lifting her up to carry her bridal style.

"I've got it."

Tesra gives Grimmjow a weird look. "You do not have to concern yourself Grimmjow-sama, I assure you that I am completely able to safely bring Orihime-sama to her quarters." Orihime looks up at her nii-san as well, and she sees a wide array of emotion in his eyes.

"I told you, I've got it." He growls, then begins marching off.

Orihime bites her lip uncertainly, "Eto, Grimmjow-niisan, I-I agree with Tesra-kun. You seem to be very tired anyway…" As she says this, her eyes flick towards the Arrancar, noting that he doesn't protest against the familiar honorific use.

"No."

As Grimmjow walks away with her in his arms, Orihime strains her neck to peek around him, giving the dirty-blonde one last look. Orihime gives the Arrancar who is watching them disappear into another hall one last smile, to which he returns with a small wave.

Grimmjow carries her in silence for some time, but then unusually, he breaks the silence first. "I don't want you spending time with either of them alone. Understand?" he says as he continues walking.

"Nani?"

"And I mean it. No spending time alone with either of them. And if they ever come to you asking to spend time with you, make sure that you call me first. Or Ggio, if he's not too busy being a stuck up bastard to watch you. Hell, even Yuki for God's sake, just make sure that you're _never_ alone."

"Wait, what? Who's Yuki?" Orihime asks in confusion. "Nii-san, you're not making any sense."

Grimmjow shakes his head, "Yuki, pale girl. Anó-something. Emiko's sister. What's her face."

A (metaphorical) light bulb appears over Orihime's head. "Anónimo-chan? You nick-named her Yuki? That makes so much sense! Good idea!" She says tapping her fist into her palm.

"Yeah, whatever. Just promise me okay?" Grimmjow stops in the middle of the hall and looks down at her. Orihime opens her mouth to ask why, when Grimmjow interrupts her. "Just promise me alright? I'll always come to protect you, just swear that you'll call for me."

"A-alright nii-san. I promise." Orihime vows. They stand there silently for a couple more moments when Orihime finally screws up the courage to ask. "But…why?"

Grimmjow looks away. "It's the least I can do for Ul-!" Grimmjow stops midsentence, glancing around frantically. "Never mind. Forget I said anything."

"No! You can't just leave me hanging like that! Nii-san! Nii-san, tell me!" Orihime pushes against Grimmjow's chest to no avail. "Tell me!"

"Yea, why don't ya tell her Grimmy-kuuun."

Grimmjow whirls around and flinches. "Ichimaru…" He growls, his grip around Orihime tightening as the smiling man comes closer.

"Konba wa. It's late, ne? What are you doing out at this hour Hime-chan? Did Grimmy-kun kidnap you to do naughty things together?" Gin tilts his head to the side, taping his chin thoughtfully.

"Urusai teme! Why don't you go back to Aizen-sama and-"

Gin leans forwards and impossibly his grin becomes even larger and Grimmjow takes a step backwards. "Speaking of Aizen-sama, I heard that he's a-looking for ya Grimmy-kun. Might wanna head over to the throne room to see why, ne?" Grimmjow opens his mouth to protest, when Gin wags a finger in his face. "Ah, ah, ahhh. You think I'm lying, don't you?" the corner of Gin's lips drop down, and he gives them both a puppy dog face. "Your lack of trust hurts me…but oh, well, you're loss if I'm telling the truth…" Gin shrugs and unwillingly, Grimmjow sets Orihime down onto her feet.

"You can get back to your room from here, right?" He asks, his concern easy to see.

Orihime smiles at him. "You baby me too much nii-san. I'll be fine." She assures him, and Gin comes up from behind her, and hugs her. Orihime turns and tries not to flinch.

"That's right Grimmy-kun, you baby her too much! Don't worry, I'll keep her nice and safe."

Grimmjow gives Gin a death glare, and finally leaves, continually glancing back at her until she cannot see him.

Gin then holds out a hand to Orihime. "Well Hime-chan? You coming along?" He asks cheekily. Orihime takes his hand and tries not to shiver at his strange and piercing gaze. "Something wrong Hime-chan? You seem…unsettled."

Orihime laughs nervously and shakes her head as they continue walking through the corridors. "It's nothing Gin-oji."

Gin nods knowingly. "I see…Well, I bet that it's just your nerves! But no need to worry, ne?" he snickers. "Besides. It's not like you're hiding something for Aizen-sama and the rest of us, so silly, don't you think?"

Orihime forces herself to laugh. "Heeheehee, silly, I know." She says, trying to hide her nervousness. _H-how does he know about the letters? I didn't tell Chichi, but I'm not supposed to tell others about secret admirers, right? Ahhhh, what should I do?_

The two of them finally stop outside of Orihime's room. Gin pats her head affectionately. "Nighty night Hime-chan. I expect to see you around…" Gin saunters off, leaving Orihime confused and more than a little bit worried…

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**Ehh, shorter-ish than usual... but hey: Interesting development is interesting...Hope you liked it and please dear readers REVIEW!**

**-moony**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello everyone. I'd say happy Wednesday, but it isn't actually very happy. A few days ago, I learned that one of our fellow authors I'mafreakingninja had passed away. Some of you might recognize her as the author of 'Shiobi in the Serintei'. It's really a wonderful story, and I strongly advise anyone who enjoys reading Naruto/Bleach crossovers to read it. I'd just like to dedicate this chapter to her. Fanfiction has lost a very good author. R.I.P**

**On another note, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, twenty in total :) They are very loved and appreciated.**

**DISCLAIMER: no i don't own it...**

* * *

CHAPTER 6

_Dear _,_

_Hi! It's me again. I just came back from sparring with Grimmjow-niisan. Don't worry, I'm not hurt or anything, it was just a friendly spar! My neck hurts a lot though TT_TT. But he didn't do it! It was my fault actually, my break fall needs work, because I keep forgetting to tuck my chin in, meaning my neck is mad at me…-.- But he says that I'm getting better! He taught me a new throw, but I forget what it's called :S It's when you block a person's punch with two arms on the inside. Then with your far hand you grab their wrist, and with your opposite hand you do a back-hand strike to their neck. After that you turn so that you're back is facing them and throw them to the ground! It looks a lot cooler when Nii-san does it though, because when I do it to him, I have to reach up high to hit him…our height difference kinda depresses me…_

_Anyways, I've noticed that my old letters to you all disappeared! I bet that the Blue Men did it! …or perhaps, the Blue Men are the ones who will deliver it to you! Yeah, maybe! I hope that you get my letters _, and I really want to get some from you too! _

_Remember when I told you about my letter from my secret admirer? Well, I have a liiiittle hunch that I know who it is! I won't tell you anything now because I'm not 100% sure, but if anything comes up, I'll tell you. Actually, I'll give you a little hint about it. The guy that I think is my secret admirer is not an Espada. Hee :3. See if you can figure anything out from _that_! It may sound bad that he's not an Espada, but the Espada are my ky__ō__dai, so that would be weird, ne? _

_Back to the sparring match, Yuki-chan, (that's An__ó__nimo's nickname! Grimmjow-nii made it up!) joined us! It was soo cool! Instead of fighting hand-to-hand they used their zanpakuto! Nii-san's is like a regular Kanata, but Yuki-chan's was a short-sword, like Gin-oji's Shinso. They didn't release, so I was kinda disappointed…_

_Also, I had a dream about Kurosaki-kun! Does that mean that he as feelings for me like the saying goes? (^/_/^) I actually think that it could've been a memory too though. I was in Kurosaki-kun's room, and he was asleep. Yuzu-chan and Karin-chan were there too (they're Kurosaki-kun's little sisters, but they were asleep too)! I remember thinking that, that I only had a short time to be with him. And I remember feeling so sad, and alone. A-and I tried to kiss him while he was asleep…tried. I didn't actually. I didn't have the courage to…-sigh- I really, really think that Kurosaki-kun is special to me. I think that he was the reason why I went with the shinigami. To protect him, and my other friends. _

_It's like that song by that band from overseas. Quarterback? Dimeback? Well, I know that the song's name is "Never gonna be alone". It's such a pretty song. It talks about how the singer won't ever leave a person, and how they'll protect and stay by their side until the very end. Kurosaki-kun actually sang it a couple years ago for a talent show at school. I-I know that they're not here with me, and I know that they're probably furious for me leaving them without an explaination, but I did for them. And, they're with me. Their hearts at least. _

_How about you? Did anything interesting happen in your life _? I hope that you're doing well! Oh! I forgot to mention, I found another letter from my secret admirer! I found it in my pillow case, just before I started writing my letter to you. It-it was so strange _...I couldn't read it. It wasn't that the writing was messy, or there were smudges on it, it was like I couldn't process it. A-and it _scared_ me. It was only pieces of it though. I couldn't read the first part but then he told me that he missed my touch, and called me innocent and loving. He compared me to a "lone rosebud in this desert wasteland". It was so sweet…but then he talked about how An__ó__mino was the one who erased my memory of him. What is he talking about? She'd _never_ do anything like that to me! How could he even suggest that? And he says that Chichi has been lying to me, that Chichi doesn't care about me! He claims he knows me, but how could he if he doesn't even know about what happened to me? Doesn't he know that it's the shinigami's fault? They're the reason why I can't remember my past! He also added that Chichi was trying to punish him. But why? Why would he? Would it be because of something he did for Nnoitora-sama? He signed the letter this time, but I couldn't read it…_

_~sigh~I wish you were here _…writing letters is nice but…I want to _see_ you… _

_Lots of love,_

_-Orihime_

Orihime sets her pen down and places the letter in the usual spot. Something told her that somehow, her letters were reaching her unknown person. Sighing again, she snuggles deep into the blankets, her sparring clothes laying scattered on the floor, a light nightgown taking their place on her body. She closes her eyes and sinks into sleep.

:-:-:-:-:

"…"

"_Are you comfortable?"_

"_Uh huh…"_

"…"

"…"

"_Is it pleasing for you to be laying down on my shoulder?"_

"_Uh huh…."_

"…"

"_What? Is something wrong?"_

"…_nothing…"_

"_Oh come on, now that you say it like THAT I know that it's something…"_

"…_are you not cold Onna?"_

"_Nope! Are you worried over something silly like that?"_

"_It is not silly. I am simply concerned for your well-being."_

"…"

"_Is my discomfort amusing for you?"_

"_No! Of course not!"_

"_Then why are you smiling?"_

"_Because you ARE being silly! Why don't you think of it like this: are _you_ comfortable?"_

"_Yes."_

"_Do you feel relaxed? Or happy?"_

"…_of course Onna."_

"_Then you know how I feel. E-eto, ah, a-ai is like that…"_

"…"

"…"

"_Your face is red."_

"…"

_SMACK!_

"…"

"_Humph!"_

"…_Itai…"_

"_You were asking for it…"_

"_Were you not the one teasing me earlier on?"_

"_Well, ah! Never mind."_

"_When you say it like that I know that something is bothering you."_

"_Hey! Now I _know_ that your teasing me!"_

"_Ai is like that."_

"…_hhhhhnnn. Silly…"_

"…"

"…"

"_Sleep onna. I will watch over you…"_

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime runs her hair through Yammy's long hair, braiding the loose strands. "Are you sure that I'm not bothering you Nii-san?" Yammy grunts and rolls his eyes. He won't admit it, but he finds her weird obsession with braiding his hair relaxing.

"Didn't I tell you, call me Yammy."

Orihime blushes in embarrassment, "Gomen. I mean Yammy." She tucks the braid over his right shoulder, standing on her tiptoes to reach, even though Yammy is sitting down. "There! All finished!" Orihime plops down back to back with him and sighs. Smiling, she relaxes in the giant Espada's shadow shading her from the light outside. Orihime squeals in surprise as a small dog leaps into her lap and begins licking her face.

"N-nani? Oh hey there little guy, heeheehee, I didn't know that there were hollow dogs around here!" She giggles, tickling the puppy as it barks playfully. "Awww, aren't you a cutie? Do you have a name Inu-chan?"

"Perro likes you."

Orihime looks up and sees Yammy looking down over her shoulder at them. "Is that his name? Perro?"

Yammy grunts and turns around. "Of course it is. Named 'im didn't I?"

"Ehhh! You're Perro-kun's master?" Orihime exclaims in surprise. Yammy just responds with his standard grunt, but Orihime beams up at him none the less. "No wonder Perro-kun is so happy! Having a wonderful master like nii-san, ops! I mean, Yammy!" Orihime blinks as she feels a giant hand pat her head, and she watches Yammy scratch Perro's head with a finger.

"Huh. Thanks. He usually doesn't like others when he first meets them. You're an exception."

Orihime tickles Perro again. "Aww! I like you too Perro-kun!" Orihime looks up as someone knocks on the door.

"Yammy-sama, your presence is being requested in the throne room by Aizen-sama." The disembodied voice calls out timidly.

"yeah, yeah, yeah." Yammy rolls his eyes boredly. "You can find your way back to your room right princess?"

Orihime nods and hops to the door, then turns and saluts Yammy. "Yup! No need to worry!" she chirps and waves as Yammy walks the other way, grumbling to Perro to sit and stay. Orihime wanders the halls and ends up not in Barragan's giant domain, but rather in the kitchen. Humming to herself, she shifts through all of the food stored in the surprisingly find a whole bag of peppermint candies. Blinking in pain as a new memory stabs at her mind. Grabbing the bag, she goes and grabs butter, and an egg from the fridge, as well as sugar, flour and chocolate from another cabinet.

"Softly, softly from the night sky, snowflakes fall down and they light up your eyes. Listen to the music, take time to enjoy, dance to the winter rhythm, our hearts filled with joy."Orihime sings softly as she combines the ingredients. Spinning around playfully with the bowl in her arms, she continues, "The wind from the north whispers in your cold ear, secrets and songs for you only to hear. My hands will stay warm if they are in your own. As we walk together, through the night, and to home…" Orihime hums, but pauses. Eyebrows knitting together, she struggles to remember the rest of the lyrics. After a moment she gives up, and begins kneading the dough.

"Fluttering hearts, glittering Christmas lights, guide us through the darkness of night." Orihime eyes widen in surprise as a pair of strong arms come around her from behind and help her knead the dough. "Couples together, looking happy and I don't want to let go of your hand." He murmers.

"Santa kurosuu ni aetara, nani wo onegai shiyou. Kimi ga issho dattara, sore da ke de, Happy Christmas." The two of them sing together, his tenor perfectly harmonizing with Orihime's soprano.

The human girl blushes as he steps away to wipe his hand on a cloth. "I didn't think that anyone would know that song…" She admits shlyly.

Tesra shrugs and picks up the bowl with the batter and places it in the fridge. "I've been to the world of the living on occasion. Nnoitora-sama doesn't know though." He looks at her out of the corner of his eye, and Orihime catches the unsaid request. Orihime giggles, then mimes zipping your lips. "How do you know the song?"

"Sora-nii taught me." She admits, twirling a strand of hair around her fingers self-conciously.

"H-he died…a couple years ago."

Tesra looks at her in silence for a moment, then grabs something out of the fridge, holding it behind his back. He walks over and leans on the counter beside Orihime. "I'm sorry for your loss…" he murmurs. Grabbing two spoons from a drawer he pulls out what he was hiding behind his back, and Orihime's mouth opens in surprise.

"Is, this a Yule Log?" She asks in amazement as the Arrancar cuts the dessert in half and places it on two separate plates. "Did you make it?" Tesra's cheeks turn a light shade of pink, and he doesn't answer, instead pushing the plate towards the girl. Orihime laughs and smiles at the man. "You did! Awww! So kawa-!" Orihime's sentence gets cut off as Tesra sticks a spoonful of the dessert into her mouth.

"What happened to that zipping your lip thing?" He asks wryly, a mildly pained expression on his face. Orihime pushes him away playfully, and takes a second to savour the Yule log as it sweetness dances across her tongue.

"Sugoi Tesra-kun! It tastes so good!" She exclaims happily, popping another piece into her mouth.

"Arigato, Orihime-sama."

Orihime glances down at her lap. "You don't have to be so formal Tesra-kun. You can call me 'Orihime-chan'." She says softly, peeking up at him through her lashes. Tesra looks surprised for a second, the bashful.

"Right. Orihime…chan." He adds at the last second.

Orihime smiles at him hesitantly, and picks up a piece of the Yule log and holds it up to Tesra's mouth. "Say 'aahh'."

Tesra gives her a funny look, and just before she gives up, he opens his mouth so that Orihime can place the spoon into it.

"You know, it must be kinda weird to be eating with a spoon. Well, maybe for you specifically…" Orihime thinks out loud, blinking thoughtfully. Tesra arches his eyebrow quizzicaly.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, don't spoons remind you of Nnoitora-nii? I mean, his uniform kinda resembles one, and when you think about it, it's like having Nnoitora in you mou-WAIT! Never mind, bad image, bad image!" Orihime waves her arms in front of her frantically as a disturbed expression passes over the Arrancar's face.

"Bad image is a mild understatement…" Tesra mutters to himself, looking down at the ground. "Itai!" he rubs his head where Orihime's flailing arms wacked him.

"A-ah! Gomenasai! I'm so sorry Tesra-kun! Did I hurt you?"

Tesra shakes his head, but before he can say anything a golden shield erects itself around his face.

"Sōten Kisshun, I reject." She says softly. Tesra blinks in surprise, but then places a hand on her, forcing her to stop.

"I am not that fragile Orihime-chan. You don't have to worry so much." Tesra says, patting her on the head. "But I appreciate the thought." He adds, as he sees embarrassment making its way through her features.

"Thank you, Tesra-kun." She says, looking up at him. Orihime then glances towards the kitchen door and notices the tips of a tail coat disappearing behind the wall.

_What's Grimmjow-nii's fraccion doing here?_

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**Ai-love**

**well, I hope that you like it. Reviews are loved!**

**-moony**


	7. Chapter 7

**k**. **so i was supposed to update at 4:30 pm in my area of teh world. clearly that didn't happen. and now I"m running out of time. thanks for all the reviews! don't forget to go check out DTR because that chapt is aizen freakin awesome**

**ME NO OWN ANYTHING!**

CHAPTER 7

_Dear _,_

_ I had the most amazing day yesterday! I was in the kitchen making the special Christmas dessert that Sora-nii taught me how to make when I was little. I was singing our special Christmas song that we sang too. It's been such a long time since I sang the song, that I forgot the lyrics for a second :O! But, but, but BUT THEN! (please cue suspenseful music! XD) the guy that I think is my secret admirer came and started singing with me! He wrapped his arms around me and helped me to knead the dough. I wouldn't have even guessed that he'd know about baking! He told me that he goes to the World of the Living, oh! I wasn't supposed to tell you that, shhhhhhhh, promise you'll keep it a secret? That's when he went to the fridge, and surprised me with a Yule Log that he made! Isn't that so cute? Heeheehee! I think that that's one of the most adorable things about a guy, you think that he's all cool and athletic, but then you find out that he has a really unexpected and cool talent. We stayed and chatted a little, we even had a food fight! At the end he helped me to clean up so all's when that ends well, ne? _

_ It was kinda strange though _, while we were eating the Yule Log, I saw one of Grimmjow-nii's fraccion out of the corner of my eye. Have ever I told you about them? He has three of them. Two boys and one girl. The girl reminds me a lot of Yuki-chan, (don't forget, that's An__ó__mino-chan's new nickname!) she has a similar mask fragment as her, but her personality is the complete opposite to her's. She actually reminds me of me! Her name is Emiko. His other male fraccion has a personality like that too. His name is Daisuke. But his third fraccion is the one who I spotted while I was in the kitchen. I knew that it was him because I spotted the tips of his tail coats disappearing behind the door. I know that I didn't keep my promise to Nii-san, I feel really bad about it :S I didn't mean any harm by it, it's just I didn't have time to tell him. I-it wasn't like it was planned! ARRGHHH! Why do I feel so guilty about this? I didn't do anything wrong! I didn't, did I?_

_ When I think about it, it's like someone keeps punching me in the gut. Guilt, sadness, shame. Why do I feel this? Do you know_? Yuki-chan and Ggio-nii have been asking me about it…and I've been acting happy for them. I mean, I don't want to inconvenience them, why should I make them worry about something silly like that? I've burdened them enough as it is…But, you'd be mad if I kept something like that from you, wouldn't you? I can imagine how mad you'd get at me, if I hid something like that from you, wouldn't you? Bleeehhhh, I can imagine your pouty face, the face that you give me when you're about to scold me but know that it was a silly thing that I'm worrying about._

_ It's a lot different from Kurosaki-kun. When he worries, he scowls, more than usual. Like this ):C …heeheeheeheehee, look at it right to left, because the other way around it looks like a guy with moustache XD. Hahahahahahaha! Now that I've said that, it makes me wonder what Kurosaki-kun would look like with a moustache. Actually, forget that, moustaches aren't for Kurosaki-kun, ne _? I'd love to see that though. I bet that he'd look so cute with a little moustache don't you think? :3 Speaking of Kurosaki-kun, the way that Grimmjow-nii was acting was a lot like him. A little over protective, but only with good reason. They both have the older brother complex, don't you think? Well, you might be able to tell with Grimmjow-niisan, but I don't remember if you've ever met Kurosaki-kun. Ugh, another thing that I don't remember…but yeah, off topic ne?_

Orihime pauses and rests her chin in her hand and twirls her shark pen in her other hand. She sighs-dreamily almost- as she recalls the bright haired youth. She bet that whomever would receive her letter would love to hear about him. About what made him Kurosaki-kun, what made him the special person that he was. Taking a second to think about it, she reassumes her writing her letter.

_I bet that you'd like Kurosaki-kun. He's loyal, protective, courageous, noble, selfless, and he's just such an amazing person. Sado-kun once told me about why he'd always follow Ichigo is because they made a deal about how one would fight for the other. As in if Sado-kun needed something, Kurosaki-kun would fight for him, and vice versa. He does everything for his family, for his sisters, for his friends even. That's what I adore about him the most. Did I ever tell you about the time that we saved Rukia-chan? It was one of the coolest things I'd ever…done…A-actually, maybe I'll tell you that story some other time, this letter is really long as it is any way, hahahaha… _

_Write back soon promise?_

_-Orihime_

Orihime hastily puts down the pen and paper and slams the drawer close, then rolls over so that her back faces it. Sword. A cat. A gate. The same small, dark-haired girl from her memory before. Kurosaki-kun. She was linked to Kurosaki-kun. She was sure of it. And she was important to him. She was…was…the one that she went to the Soul Society to save. Save because she was the one who gave Ichigo…his shinigami powers. Orihime clutches her head and squeezes her eyes shut. No. NO. it didn't make sense. The Shinigami were evil. They were the ones who attacked and kidnapped her, erased her memory. That's why even now, she can only remember bits and pieces of her life. That's what Chichi told her. Aizen was the one who told her. He'd never lie. He said that she'd be safe with him. He wouldn't do anything bad. He wouldn't betray her like how he did to the Soul -!Orihime let out a wail, and clutched her head as pain ripped through her mind.

"Orihime-chan! What's wrong?"

"Nee-sama? Nee-sama? Nee-sama!"

Orihime vaguely registers Ggio and Anómino bursting into her room, and standing around her bed.

"Make it stop, make it stop, MAKE IT STOP!" She screams, the noise ripping through her throat, "YAMERO, YAMERO, YAMEROOO!"

"Orihime! Calm down! You! Do something!"

Orihime screams as images of Yammy tearing Sado-kun's arm off, a short white haired boy in strange clothing battling an Arrancar. Ichigo standing in front of her, blocking a strike from a snake like Hollow with dark hair. A dark haired man wearing a white tail coat calling Kurosaki-kun trash. A man with no face. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Vanish, Recuerdos Perdidos!"

Orihime freezes for a split second as two tentacles with suction cups on the end rise up and wave around her face, brushing against face before latching onto her temples. Thrashing around, she claws at them, shrieking madly trying to pull them away from her face.

"Nee-sama, calm down! Onegai! Nee-sama! Onegai, yamero!"

Orihime meets a strange pair of clear eyes that change from a light blue to warm gray before she hears a single word whispered softy in her ear.

"_entumecido…"_

"!"

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime blinks as a bright light causes the back of her eyelids to light up bright orange. Trying to move a hand over her eyes she nearly freaks out again when she realizes that all of her limbs have cuffs on them.

"Thank God, you're awake."

"Nii-san…"

Grimmjow's face is creased with worry and it's painfully obvious that he hasn't slept for days. "Damnit. Damnit, damnit damnit, damn you Orihime!" He snarls angrily, and Orihime cringes as his reiatsu spikes angrily. "Do you know how much everyone's been freaking out? Christ Orihime! Aizen-sama's been hounding me about what happened!"

Orihime feels fear fill her body as the name leaves his lips. "O-oh. Aizen-s-sama's been worried about me? Gomen." She stammers, remembering the terrible images that ripped through her mind as she thought about the horrible things that she remembers about him.

Grimmjow's eyes widen and his eyebrows rise a fraction. "What did you just say?" he asks, as if he can't believe what he's hearing.

"Chichi! I mean, Chichi!"Orihimee quickly changes her statement but by the look on Grimmjow's face she knows that he caught her slip up. She stares at him with an open mouth for a split second then tackles him, her arms in a vice grip around his neck. "Don't tell. Nii-san, please don't tell. Please!" Orihime begs, whispering frantically into his ear.

Grimmjow gives her a curious look, then throws back his head and laughs loudly. "Awww, having nightmares without you're Nii-san? How cute." Orihime stares at him in disbelief, but then notices the warning expression he has on his face.

"N-nii-san, don't tease me!" She pretends to pout, crossing her arms childishly. Grimmjow ruffles her hair and snickers. _He's so much better at this than I am_… Orihime thinks unhappily. _What if I slip up again?_

"ORIHIME-NEECHAN!" Orihime squeals as someone tackles her around her middle, knocking Grimmjow off his chair. Grimmjow sits up and Orihime can already feel the waves of rage and indignation radiating off him, when a firm hand presses down on his shoulder. Looking up to the person, Orihime's eyes widen in surprise.

"Halibel-neechan, what are you doing here?"

Halibel gives Grimmjow a warning look, then goes to sit at the foot of Orihime bed. "Visiting of course. You hadn't visited in sometime Orihime-chan. My Fraccion were getting worried. As well as I." Halibel adds. She then turns her gaze to the young girl who's arms are still wrapped around Orihime's torso. "And Lilynette-chan wanted company when visiting."

"You're a bigger boke than Starrk Orihime-neechan." The arrancar girl mumbles into Orihime's clothing. "W-we could hear your screaming from our wing. Even Starrk acted serious for a second."

Orihime gently runs her fingers through Lilynette's short blonde hair. "I'm sorry that I worried you. And everyone else." She says, looking up sheepishly at Grimmjow and Halibel. "D-did I really worry everyone that much?"

Halibel doesn't answer, but walks back over to the door and pushes it open, revealing the hesitant faces of Mila Rose, Sun-Sun, and Apache, as well as Ggio, Yammy, (who's standing against the far wall with his arms crossed) and surprise .

"Answer. Hell yeah you did." Grimmjow comments sarcastically, standing and moving to stand at the head of Orihime's bed as all the other people enter the room.

" We let you hang with that idiot Sexta, and this is where you end up." Apache comments, shaking her head. "I knew that it was a bad idea to let you out our sight."

"WHAT WERE YOU SAYING ABOUT THAT 'IDIOT SEXTA' HUH?" Grimmjow is about to lunge forward and decapitate Halibel's fraccion when Orihime latches onto his sleeve. Looking down at her in surprise, his angry gaze softens and he stands back where he was previously.

"Now, now, what did I say about visitors?" Orihime hears the sound of someone clicking their tongue. Looking up, she sees Syzel entering from a door built in such a way that it disappeared into the wall when it's closed. "Orihime-chan has just healed, from the results of the testing, it is imperative that she is left to rest in peace and quiet for perfect recovery." He says shooing everyone out of the room.

"'Tests'?" Grimmjow snarls angrily snapping in Syzel's face.

"Calm down Grimmjow. You must learn to control your temper." Halibel says firmly. "However," she continues, glaring dangerously at the scientist over her jacket collar, "If any of his 'testing' had harmed Orihime, and it were to come to my knowledge…he will be sorry that he had done it in the first place." She says in a dangerous voice. Syzael laughs nervously, his usually cool and superior demenoir cracking under the pressure of the two killing intents.

"Don't knock your masks off, Aizen-sama approved all of the testing that I preformed on her while she was unconscious." He assures them as he leads them out of the room.

"He did?" Orihime squeaks, her hands fisting in the bed sheets.

Syzael nods. "He did, so no one has any reason to, ah, kill me." He says with a wave of his hand. "If anything, the tests enabled me to perfect your healing process. Now everyone. _Out._"

Orihime watches Halibel, Grimmjow and the others exit, the first two more reluctuently than the others. "Orihime-samaa, Syzael-sama has told us to make you lie down." One of Syzel's round Fraccion, (Orihime can never remember her name) says to Orihime, tapping her shoulder. "You have ta rest Orihime-sama~!"

"O-okay." Orihime lies back into her sheets and blinks rapidly as the lights turn off. "O-oyasumi."

:-:-:-:-:

_"Have you lost your mind? He will kill her."_

_ "Shut your mouth emo-spada, _you're_ the one who wanted to see her so badly."_

_ "Not at the expense of her life!"_

_ "Didn't you hear me bat bastard? Shut you're freaking mouth! Halibel said that she'd give us a half hour. A. Half. Hour. Unless you want to wake her up, keep your voice down damnit."_

_ "…My apoligies."_

Orihime sighs deeply as the two voices break through her dreams of little blue men, gummi bears and a fountain of eternal wasabi sauce. It was quite an amazing dream actually. But, she didn't remember these voices belonging to any of the woodland animals that had appeared out of the fountain.

_"Are you sure that it's safe to do this? Will they not sense my reiatsu?"_

_ "How many times do I have to tell you, no? You're wearing that bracelet thingie that she wore when you kidnapped her from the Human world, remember? Geeze, and you tell me that _I_ don't have a brain?"_

_ "Silence Grimmjow, you are making too much noise."_

_ "Oh. My. Kami. Why I outta…"_

Orihime rolls onto her side and her eyebrows furrow minutely. Their voices are too anxious to be in her dream. And they _are_ being too loud. They've scared off the animals. Orihime's bottom lip pouts slightly, and her eyelids flutter delicately.

_"Hurry it up, we don't have much time left. From Halibel's stalling, and from the time left on that bracelet."_

Orihime hears someone sigh tiredly, and feels a weight press down on the bed beside her. A hand begins to stroke her hair, gently caressing and letting her hair slip through their fingers. Orihime breathes deeply and leans into the hand subconsciously.

_"Hello onna. How are you? I have heard that you gave everyone quite a scare. Are you alright? Heh. Silly me. That's what you'd say, wouldn't you Onna. Call me silly for worrying about you. What happened Onna? Why did you scream so?"_

Orihime rolls onto her side and nuzzles into the hand. _So gentle. So soft_. She thinks as her dream begins to fade away, the wind blowing away the flowers and grass, pure white feathers floating in on the wind.

_"Halibel thinks that her memories are coming back. Because she just lost her memory of you, and not of Berry-boy and the rest of her human friends."_

_ "Meaning her memories of the inident are intact?"_

_ "Yeah. But apparently, the memory wipe effects things related to whatever got erased too. So you know how you threatened her friends? That's why she hasn't remembered everything accurately. The memory wipe had to 'rewire' the memories so that you wouldn't be in them, but still make sense to her. Or something like that."_

_ "What?"_

_ "I'll fill you in on the details later, shouldn't you be doing something before, oh I don't know, _we run out of time and get our asses caught?_"_

_ "...fine. I will wait for an answer. But you owe it to me Grimmjow."_

"Nii-san…?" Orihime mumbles softly, the white feathers in her dream transforming into a blanket, the darkness turning from a deep black colour to a shade of blue-gray.

_"Kuso, hurry it up will you, she's waking up, _and_ we've only got five minutes."_

_ "It appears that I've ran out of time Orihime. There are so many things that I wish that I could tell you. So many things that I want to share. I'll settle on this for now Onna."_

Orihime feels a pair of gentle lips press lightly against her ear.

"_I will always fight for you. I will fight for you to be by my side. To watch the sunrise together, like how we did before. Wake up. Please, wake up Inoue Orihime. I don't know what I will do without you…"_

Orihime hears the voice waver for a few moments, but then it falls silent. There is a light pressure on her forehead, and the sounds of multiple footsteps walking out of the room. "Wait…don't go…" She mummers. "Don't go…"

:-:-:-:-:

"It is wonderful to see you up and eating with such energy, Orihime-chan."

Orihime blushes bashfully as she wipes her mouth. Looking down at her napkin, she feels her nervousness rise as a large smear of her favourite green condiment stares back up at her. "G-gomenasai. I know I'm a messy eater."

Aizen chuckles in a fatherly manner, taking his own napkin and wipes off a speck of wasabi that she missed. "You mustn't worry yourself, dearest musume. You will always be accepted here."

"H-hai!" Aizen sips his tea delicately as Orihime bites into another piece of her chocolate taiyaki covered in wasabi and red bean paste. "Eto, by the way Chichi. How are things doing in Las Noches? Syzael-niisan doesn't really tell me much." Orihime asks hesitantly, holding the half eaten taiyaki in front of her face, trying to hide her unease behind it.

Aizen senses her nervousness easily. "No need to be so nervous. Everything is fine Orihime-"

"But did ya tell her 'bout out little visitors?"

Aizen turns around and there is a touch of a deadly coldness in his voice. "Gin. What are you doing here."

The white haired man grins cheekily and shrugs, palms up in the air. "Ev'ryone's in a tizzy coz of Hime-chan here. I thought that I'd go and check up on her. Lilynette-chan is worried see, and Starrk asked me to go and look for her. Too lazy to do so 'imself."

Orihime looks between the two men. "What? Visitors? Who?" She asks in confusion.

"Oh, nothing much. It's just a little Strawberry broke in with a burrito and toothpick." Gin says easily, as if he were simply talking about the weather.

Time seems to freeze when Orihime realizes what this means. "Ichigo, Chad and Uuryu?" She breathes, not willing to believe it. "They're here? How? When?"

Aizen sighs and turns to Gin with a disapproving look on his face. "I thought I told you not to say anything that might distress her." He says softly, glaring at the other man.

"Awww. Gomen ne. I thought it wouldn't do any harm in tellin' 'er." Gin's eyebrows push up and he pouts. Orihime would think he looked cute, by the way his eyes open slightly she knows that he's trying to be anything but.

"Please. Chichi. Tell me. What are they doing here? Where are they?" Orihime asks, eyes wide and pleading. Aizen doesn't say anything, just stares at her with neutral eyes. "Please. Please! Please Chichi, tell me!"

Aizen's eyes narrow for a second. "This is why I didn't tell you. I knew that you'd stress about this if I told you. That is why I kept it a secret." He explains, closing his eyes and kneading the bridge of his nose with his fingers. "And I was right. This news it too much for you."

"No!" Orihime exclaims. "E-eto, I mean, I can take it. Really!" She promises.

Aizen pats her cheek affectionally. "Alright. I'll tell you, as longs as you promise not to stress yourself." Orihime nods and when she stops, Aizen begins to explain. "You see, the Shinigami have sent Kurosaki Ichigo on a suicide mission."

"_Suicide mission?_"

"They want you, you're powers back. And they want to punish Kurosaki Ichigo." Aizen explains. Orihime opens her mouth to ask another question, but Aizen holds his hand up to stop her. "Orihime, there is great amount of things that I want to tell you, but I'd like to tell you all at once, alright?" He pauses to get response from Orihime who nods immediately. "They are angry at him Orihime. Do you not remember, but Kurosaki Ichigo was the one who the Goeti 13 ordered to keep an eye on you. He knew you the best, so they assigned him as your guard. However, instead of fighting against Gin and Tousen when they rescued you, he turned a blind eye. Their fury against him…"Aizen shakes his head, as if he regrets the situation. "From what our sources say, they gave him this task in order to 'redeem' himself. He had no choice. He had to accept, because they fed him terrible lies about you. But what he doesn't know, what your friends don't know, is that the Sotaicho doesn't expect him to come back. The Sotaicho is sending him on a suicide mission.

"He knows that by sending Kurosaki to attack us without warning, he is declaring war on us. He knows that we would kill to defend ourselves. But Orihime, what he doesn't know is that he has made a fatal mistake!" Aizen's face breaks out into a reassuring smile, and he grasps Orihime's shoulders with his hands. "Orihime, we can save him from their wrath. If he returns without you, they will kill him. If we can convince him that you are innocent. We can convince him to come to our side and we can kill the treacherous Shinigami who have caused you all this misery!" Aizen pauses to let it sink in. Orihime feels her heart pounding madly.

_It's true. It has to be true, doesn't it? He wouldn't lie. Right? Everything that has happened until now, it _can't_ be a lie, can it?_ Orihime thinks, her breathing becoming shallower and quicker. **What if it is? What if you have been living a lie all this time? What if they don't really care about you? What if they've just been putting on an act? **

"Aizen-sama~! She's a hyperventilatin'." Gin's overly cheerful voice breaks through her internal argument. Blinking rapidly, she inhales, trying her best to calm down. "I-I see…"

Aizen stands up, and kisses her forehead. "I will let this sink in for now. Be aware, Kurosaki Ichigo and his friends are coming to 'rescue' you. You have to understand. If someone aside from myself, Gin, Tousen or you finds them first." He lets the sentence hand, the silence implying what will happen to them. "Rest now Orihime. There is an arrangar stationed outside waiting for you. He will be replacing Ggio as your escort."

"What happened to Ggio-nii?"

"Some special circumstances have made Ggio unavailable for some time. He asked me to send his condolences and apologizes that he couldn't tell you himself."

"Oh. Tell him that I hope that everything goes well Chichi." Orihime says, as Aizen nods and walks out the door.

Flopping back down, Orihime curls up on her side and stares at the blank wall. "Kurosaki-kun…"

* * *

REVIEW!1


	8. Chapter 8

**This is so insultingly short. -bangs head against wall in shame- I've been stuck in front of the T.V all week thanks to the Olympics. Speaking of the Olympics CONGRATS TO UCHIMURA-SAMA FOR HIS GOLD IN MEN'S ALL AROUND GYMNASTICS! WOOOOT! REPRESENT! GAMBATTE! **

**DISCLAIMER: Nope.**

**Btw: Be greatful to Cat, because if I didn't see her chapter sitting in my inbox, I would've totally forgotten about this -_-"**

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CHAPTER 8

_"An__ónimo's memory-erasing power must have tampered with that."_

_"Well, Orihime, I hope you don't like truth, because I dare you to ask An__ónimo what her power is."_

_ "If she looks hesitant or scared to tell you, I'm right. If she makes up an excuse about why she can't tell you, I'm right. If she tells you something that doesn't seems like the truth, then I'm right."_

_ "You can stop referring to me and your 'secret admirer' as two different people, because we're not. We're the same person."_

_ "Do I sound like Tesla to you?"_

_ "Can you list the names of all 10 Espada for me? I want to see if you know everyone. Every. Single. Espada. Even the 4th one."_

Orihime stares numbly at the sentences that jump out at her. Stabbing at her accusingly. It had been three days since she had had her mental breakdown. Three days of staying in the plain and isolated room. Three days with little company. Three days of shifting through the broken memories that plague her dreams, turning them into their nightmares. Three days since the tube of wasabi, red bean paste and Enraku her stuffed bear appeared on her bed side. Three days since her dream, not dream. And a day since she received the most recent letter from her mystery person. The mystery person who keeps triggering memories that seem to want to stay forgotten.

Orihime feels anger fill her, and she snatches the familiar fountain pen and a piece of paper from underneath the bed, the intense emotion making her normally readable penmanship almost illegible.

_How dare you? Now I _know_ that you aren't Tesla-kun because I know that he'd never say anything like this! A dare? A DARE? FINE! Challenge accepted! But first, has the concept of PRIVACY ever entered your thoughts? Just because she won't tell me, doesn't mean that she has something sinister to hide, it just means there is nothing important for her to tell me! Grimmjow-niisan. Are you going to accuse him of being and evil overlord of doom because he hasn't told me every. Single. Little. Detail. About. His. Ressurection? Exactly my point! An__ónimo-chan is my _sister._ My. _**SISTER!**_I REFUSE to believe you, whomever you are. You want to keep me safe? You tell me that you _love _me? _You_ tell _me_ that _you know me?_ Then how could you say those things when you tell me things you know that I will react badly to, especially since you don't seem to have the _**BALLS**_ to say it to my FACE! _

_ I'll show you! I'll prove that you are completely. Utterly. _**WRONG. **_Because unlike _**YOU**_I keep an open mind, and make sure I hear the _**WHOLE**_ story _**BEFORE**_ I judge someone for what they may or may not have done. _**BELIEVE IT! **_Oh! And BEFORE I forget: Yammy-niisan, Kaien-niisan, Syzel-san, Zommari-san, Grimmjow-niisan, Nnoitora-san, Halibel-neechan, Barragan-sama, Starrk-niisan, THE FOURTH ESPADA SEAT IS VACANT AND AIZEN-SAMA IS DOING A FOURTH ESPADA CANDIDATE EVALUATION, BAKA! _

Orihime screams in frustration and anger as she stabs the final exclaimation points into the paper, punching through it. Panting, the human girl closes her eyes and takes three deep breaths. "Calm down Orihime. It's a piece of paper. Just a poor, innocent, piece of piece of paper. It never did anything to you. If anything, it's sad because it got separated from its tree, and it's very, very lonely. You are just doing more damage to it than it needs." Orihime's eyes widen when she hears a cough from behind her. Whirling around she blushes in embarrassment and tries to hide behind her sunset coloured hair as the tall Arrancar blinks slowly as he leans against the door frame. His thick, dark brown hair falls just to his shoulders, with side bangs partially hiding his eyes. His outfit is similar to Grimmjow's except the sleves end at his shoulders, showing off his strond and muscular arms. His mask fragment takes the shape of a strip of bone resting on his cheek with fang like teeth decorating the bottom. "H-how long were you standing there?" She asks hesitantly, her previous anger totally forgotten.

"A while." He says quietly. "Is Inoue-sama ready to return to her living quarters?" He asks after an awkward silence.

"H-hai." Orihime stammers uncertainly. The unnamed Arrancar bows and steps inside the room. Immediately, he goes for the pile of Orihime's belongings, and picks them up into his arms effortlessly. "Oh! Don't worry about that, I can carry it myself." She protests, reaching out for the items, but the male arrancar shakes his head.

"I have direct orders from Aizen-sama not to let you exert yourself any more than necessary." He says in the same monotone voice.

"A-ah. So desu ka."

He bows respectfully and leads her out of the room in silence, as they navigate the seemingly never ending halls of Las Noches. Orihime observes her surroundings. To an outsider, the halls may appear exactly the same throughout, but Orihime could tell that the route they were taking was not the one that led to Barragan's domain.

"Eto, Arrancar-san? Gomen, I don't know your name, but where are we going?" she asks in confusion as they walk up a flight of stairs.

"Because of certain circumstances that I have not been informed of, Aizen-sama has asked for your living quarters to be moved." The arrancar says, and Orihime notes how the corners of his lips point downwards slightly.

Orihime feels the corners of her lips twitch upwards. "Ne, ne Arrancar-san, you don't like being out of the loop do you?" She asks, poking his shoulder playfully. He looks down at her in surprise, the first emotion to break across his previously neutral face.

"You may say that…"

Orihime smiles, and rolls her eyes as she walks beside him. "I know how you feel. Grimmjow-niisan doesn't tell me anything either. Neither does Ggio-nii for that matter." Orihime pouts, crossing her arms.

"Sō desu ka…" He murmurs as they mount the stairs leading to another area of Las Noches that she's never been into.

"Orihime-neesama!" Anónimo appears from a room down the hall, and even though Orihime knows that she cannot see her, Anónimo's eyes seem to lock onto her immediately. The young arrancar runs towards Orihime, skidding to a stop before her, and she executes a deep bow. "I'm so happy that you're feeling well." She says, still bowed over, her voice breathless and shaking. Orihime smiles gently, steps forward and glomphs her, to the arrancar's surprise.

"Awww! Yuki-chan was worried about me!" She giggles as she pinches her cheeks teasingly. "Why didn't you visit while I was in Syzel-nii's lab?" Orihime asks, a hurt expression on her face.

"Gomenasai Nee-sama. I couldn't come. I had…to do some things that couldn't be put off until later." Anónimo blushes. "I already brought over all of your things, did you want to take a look at your new room?"

Orihime's face lights up with curiosity and she dashes inside the room to explore. Orihime blinks when she sees the unusually empty room, only containing a sofa, side table, and a lone window with three bars. The human girl turns and looks at the Arrancar standing in the door way inquisitively. "Why are there bars on the window?"

Anónimo looks uncertain and Orihime notes it, her eyebrows furrowing slightly. "Safety reasons." The male Arrancar says, once again in an annoyingly cryptic fashion. Orihime narrows her eyes and plops down onto the couch.

_I dare you to ask An__ónimo what her power is._

"A-Anónimo-chan? Do you mind coming here; I'd like to ask you something." She asks hesitantly, patting a spot on the couch beside her. Anónimo walks over slowly and sits down beside her slowly. Orihime glances at the unnamed Arracar before leaning towards the girl whom she regards as a little sister. "Yuki-chan…w-what is the power of your resurrection? I-it's power I mean…" Anónimo flinches back and her icy-blue hair falls into her eyes. Her mouth opens and closes like a fish's. As she does a different memory bubbles up at the back of Orihime's mind. "And…when we first met. Didn't you have dark hair?"

"Orihime-neesama…I, I."

"Be silent."

The two girls whip around and Orihime lets out a gasp all of the air around seems to thicken as the tall, male glares at them with unrestrained anger. "I do not care if this girl trusts you. I do not care if she has fallen to your power. But _I will not tolerate _another person suffering because of you." He rumbles.

Orihime glances at Anónimo fearfully as his heavy and dense reiatsu swirls around them. _S-so strange. I can feel it pressing down on me, but it doesn't feel like anything. Not predatory like Grimmjow-niisan, or powerful like Halibel-neesan. It…it's like it's neutralizing everything around us_.

"Jonghuyn's undoing was a result of his own actions. Not mine. He was willing, he volunteered-"

"THE FATE THAT YOU GAVE MY BROTHER IS ONE WORSE THAN DEATH!" He explodes, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You give that girl an answer, you, and I know what you will do. If Aizen-sama thinks it is nessisary, we will know what will happen to her. You have ruined her future as it is." He snarls. "Do not dare to take what little she has left. Monster. Evil. Hoplessness. That is what you are. What you give birth to."

"YOU ARE THE ONE WHO DOES NOT UNDERSTAND! DO YOU THINK THAT I DO NOT SUFFER AS WELL?" Anónimo finally snaps rising from her seat, her previous uncertainty, and Orihime's question forgotten.

"Yamero!"

The two arrancar whip around to see Orihime glaring at them, somewhat in embarrassment. The male 'tsk's and leaves. "Call for me if you are in need of something Orihime-sama." He says as the two left in the room watch him leave. There is a heavy silence that seems to go on forever, when Orihime finially gets the guts to break it.

"Who is he Yuki-chan? Who is Jonghyun?" She asks cautiously, using Anónimo's nickname, as she fingers the hem on her sleeve. Glancing at the girl, she flinches as she sees the expression on her face. Cold. Numb. Distant. And above all: heart broken.

"His name Morinozuka Minho...49th Arrancar. His younger brother is Morinozuka Jonghyun. 50th Arrancar."

"What was he talking about earlier? Why does he seem to hate you do much?"

"You heard him, didn't you? I've done something unforgivable. I've given his most important person a fate worse than death." Orihime feels the hairs on her arms stand up as Anónimo continues talking, sounding like a completely different person. "You have to understand Orihime-neesama. When you are willing to take that gamble that risks everything…and you lose everything…You have nothing left. No emotion. No reasoning. No sense of being. No sense of self." She stands and walks out the door.

"I-I want to tell you…but I _can't_…Gomenasai, neesama."

Orihime watches her leave without a sound. Biting her lip, she falls into the couch, buring her face into the fabric. "He can't be right. He can't be right. He can't be right. He can't be right." Orihime squeezes her eyes tightly, her hand fisting in the fabric. "He can't be right. He _can't_."

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime lies on her back and stares at the ceiling, no changes happening in the room, not even the length of the shadows. She closes her eyes and tries to use _pesquia_ like how Halibel taught her. She reaches out around her, and can feel the faint signatures of some people. Her eyes fly open as five _extremely_ familiar reiatsu appear inside Las Noches. "N-no way…"

* * *

**Dun, dun, dun...? Kudos to who can guess where I got Minho's lastname from ;) You shall see what his powers are in time...But in the mean time:**

**REVIEW! (ONEGAISHIMASU!)**


	9. Chapter 9

**AAAAHHH I FORGOT TO UPDATEEEEE! GOMENASAIIIIII! -goes into dark corner and bawls eyes out- fair warning to the people who are actually following the story: I'm on vacation for the next two weeks, therefore an update is highly unlikely. However you can look forwards to a double update when I get back**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach**

**alsooo, thanks to everyone who reviewed! It is loved and appreciated :)**

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CHAPTER 9

"N-no way…"

Orihime's eyes widen as she feels the five distinct reiatsu travelling deep within Las Noches, accompanied by three that she does not recognize. "Ishida-kun. Sado-kun. Kurosaki-kun!" she breathes immediately recognizing the three. Two others feel familiar as well, one that is cool, calm and collected, while the other feels wild, brash and something else that Orihime can't quite name. The three that she doesn't recognize puzzle her. They don't feel like a human's a Quincy's, or like Kurosaki-kun's rieatsu, but rather, Arrancar. But she's never felt reiatsu like their's before. During her stay, Orihime may not have met every Arrancar personally, but she has felt most of the reiatsu of most inhabitants of Las Noches.

"Minho-san?" She calls out hesitantly. She waits a moment and when no one answers she tries calling out again. "Minho-san?" Getting up she hesitantly walks towards the door and pushes against it. Orihime squeals in surprise when it unexpectedly opens, causing her to fall on the floor.

"Itai." She props herself up on her arms and looks around. "Where is everyone?" She asks no one in particular. Standing up she walks down the hall, her curiosity getting the better of her. Walking down the hallway, Orihime hums to herself, the hairs on her arms standing up for an unknown reason.

"Neowae, Neowae, downiya gibooni, Owae, owae, cheok hamyeon choek. Neowae neowae, neowae upiya gibooni, owae."

Orihime starts as a tenor voice echoes towards her from farther down the hall. Walking closer, she hears the voice repeat the words, in the same light and playful tone it was using earlier. Up ahead there is light coming from another room. Walking up the door, she peeks inside hesitantly to find Minho inside, sitting down with his back facing the door. Across from him is another male arrancar with brown hair that just brushes his neck, the tips changing to blonde. His mask fragment looks like some sort of headset that he's wearing on his left ear. However, unlike Minho who is sitting cross-legged, Orihime notices that he has his knees curled up against his chest.

"Ne, do you remember? Come on, you would always sing that song remember? Neowae, neowae, come one, you can do it. Come on, sing for your aniki." Minho's voice cracks on the last sentence, as he reaches out, rubbing the other arrancar's arm in a comforting manner. But instead of responding, he doesn't say a word, and just continues staring at Minho.

"No? Don't feel like singing that song today?" Minho asks, his voice returning to an easy and light tone. "How about Replay? Noona neomu yeppo…Come one Jjong."

"Is he your brother?"

Immediately after the question leaves Orihime's lips, she claps her hand over her mouth and hides behind the wall. She senses Minho's strange reiatsu spike and she glances cautiously to the side to find Minho staring her down ominously. "What are you doing?" He asks in a quiet and dangerous voice.

"I-I felt reiatsu that didn't belong to any arrancar living here, and I wanted to ask you or Yuki-chan, but neither of you were there, so I decided to leave to look for you and-"

"Forget it." Minho shakes his head and returns inside the room, leaving the door open. Taking this as an invitation to follow, Orihime steps inside the room and sits down beside him in front of his brother.

"Orihime-sama, this is my younger brother Morinozuka Jonghyung. Jjong, are you going to introduce yourself?" Minho ruffles his brother's hair and attempts to get his attention. Jonghyung doesn't respond at all, just continues to stare unwaveringly at a blank spot in the air.

"Hey there Jonghuyng, ohayo. How are you doing?" Orihime asks brushing his hair out of his eyes, and flinches backwards. Instead of brown eyes like his brother's, there are no pupils at all.

"Gomenasai. I forgot to tell you." Minho apologizes softly. "He used to have the most handsome eyes in all of Hueco Mundo, isn't that right Jjong? Pretty, bright blue eyes?" Jonghyung blinks once slowly, and Orihime watches Minho's face light up. "Aah. So you're agreeing with me, ne? Of course, that's what you'd always brag about, wasn't it Jjong?"

Minho continues to talk and joke one-sidedly with him as Orihime watches in curiosity. "Hey, Orihime-sama and I are going to head out alright? I'll come back later, alright Jjong?" Minho gets up, and Orihime stands along with him and they walk out the door together.

"Noona…neomu…yeppo."

Orihime bumps into the tall Arrancar's back as a soft and sweet voice rings out softly. Orihime hears Minho inhale a shaky breath.

"Noona…"

Orihime pulls on Minho's shirt uncertainly. "Minho-san. Who is 'Noona'?" She asks hesitantly.

He looks down over shoulder at her, "You." Orihime's mouth drops open in surprise. He smirks at you wryly. "Noona neomu yeppo. Older sister, you are so beautiful." Minho fully turns around and Orihime sees reserved hope glistening in his eyes. "Are you going to sing for her? Are you going to sing like how you used to?"

Jonghyung blinks slowly again, then curls up into a ball, and the hopeful look on Minho's face disappears. "Come on." He murmurs and leads Orihime back into her room.

"You're brother seems, nice." Orihime comments softly as they walk down the hallway and back into her room.

Minho laughs bitterly. "Nice. You should've seen him before."

Orihime walks to the couch and sits down, patting a spot beside her. "Did you want to talk about it?"

"It's a long story."

Orihime raises her eyebrows, and pats the spot again. Sighing, Minho sits down and leans back against the couch.

"He may look pretty responsible, but most of the time he acted like a kid." Minho starts, staring at the ceiling as Orihime listens quietly. "We didn't end up being Espada, because we weren't quite strong enough, but we didn't get chosen as Fraccion because most of them either weren't interested or thought that we were a hazard to keep around. We were too strong, see." He explains, after getting a curious look from Orihime. "We were turned into Arrancar while in Adjucha state. I may be the older brother, but Jonghyung was the one with the more powerful release. We didn't care though. I didn't. He started when _she_ showed up though."

Minho's face takes on a bitter and almost disgusted expression. "Anónimo. Do you know what that means?" He asks. Orihime shakes her head in response, "Nameless. It literally means 'nameless'. I didn't understand. I still don't understand why he had this fascination with her. Always following her around. Always guiding her wherever she needed to go. And she clung to him just as much. Maybe more. I didn't like it. I didn't like the weird, blind girl with colourless hair and no eyes. Jonghyung did. He adored her. He'd always sing for her. What you heard in the room. Nothing close to what he used to sound like when he would sing."

"It all changed when he started training with her. I didn't notice at the time, but he became more irresponsible than normal then. Always forgetting things. First it was trivial things. Like where he had left his jacket. Or if he did something or not. But then it changed. He started forgetting other things. Like what the colour blue was. Or where our room was. What my name was…" Minho leans forward and his hair falls into his face, hiding his eyes. "What his name was. He forgot every. Single. Thing. That made him who he way. Gone. Stolen. And do you know what the cruelest thing was? She even stole the one thing that made him who he was. Can you guess, Orihime-sama?" he asks, finally meeting her eyes. Orihime shakes her head slowly, the anger, hate, and despair in his eyes causing herself to freeze on the spot.

"His eyes. Jonghyung was the only person I've ever seen with blue eyes like that. The colour of blue ice. Your eyes are what make you, you. No one will have the same coloured or shaped eyes as you. She took them, and erased Morinozuka Jonghyung. And he's not going to come back." He finishes bitterly, standing up, and walking towards the door. "I don't know what you did to have something like this happen to you. But you don't deserve it Orihime-sama. Whatever you do, don't let her have her way. Because you won't be the one who suffers. It'll be the ones whom you leave behind."

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime sits in silence as she stares at the blank sheet of paper that lies in her lap. Her shark fountain pen lies on the couch beside her as she struggles to figure out what to write. Picking it up gently, she writes in a delicate hand, much more slowly and neatly than usual.

_Dear Cuatra,_

Orihime stares at the two words on the paper, before stuffing it underneath the couch. Sighing she flops down on the couch and stares up at the ceiling. "Stupid pride." She mutters to herself, turning her head to stare at the wall. "I guess…that's what I get from spending too much time with Grimmjow-niisan. Anónimo, what am I supposed to believe?" Orihime lies in silence as she waits for an answer that she knows won't come. "Tsubaki…"

_Poof!_

"ALRIGHT, WHO'S THE BASTARD TRYING TO ATTACK HIME-SAMA-! Hold up…" the little fairy who originally had materialized fully ready to fight someone freezes in mid kick, then rounds onto Orihime, grabbing and pulling on her hair furiously.

"BAKA! WHAT THE HELL?! HAVEN'T I ALREADY _TOLD YOU_ NOT TO CALL ON ME UNLESS _ABSOLUTELY NESSISARY?!_"

Orihime covers her head and shouts in pain and surprise. "Itai! That _hurts_ Tsubaki!" the fairy crosses his arms stubbornly.

"That's beside the point. Why the hell did you summon me?" he demands, crossing his legs and as he hovers in midair in front of Orihime face.

Orihime laces her fingers together. "I, I wanted to ask you something." Tsubaki arches an eyebrow and gestures for her to continue. "If, if I don't know who to trust. If I don't know what's the truth, who do I trust. Who _can_ I trust?" She asks quietly, not meeting his gaze.

Tsubaki doesn't answer immediately. Scratching the back of his neck he sighs tiredly and leans back. "Who else? Yourself."

Orihime's head snaps up and she stares at him in disbelief. "N-nani? What do you mean?"

Tsubaki stands up and stretches. "Trust your gut." He says simply, before returning to his place on her pins.

Orihime sits in stunned silence as she mulls over their short conversation. "Trust my gut…?"

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**Mehmp...So...what do you guys think? Reviews are loved and appreciated!**

**-moony**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello dear readers. K, so I know that there was no update two weeks ago, but that was because I was on vacation, and Cat didn't want to update without me (me feels so loved :3). So yeah. Here ye goes. Also, thanks go out to everyone who faved/subscribed. They are much loved and appreciated! But could you guys show a little more of that love and review? Pretty please? Let's see the review count hit thirty! yea! :P**

**DISCLAIMER: nope**

**side note: HOLY AIZEN HAS ANYONE BEEN KEEPING UP TO DATE WITH NARUTO/BLEACH? BECAUSE HOLY AIZEN THESE LAST CHAPTERS HAVE BEEN INTENSE! O_O**

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_My sweet Orihime,_

_ I am so very sorry for my last letter. I am not going to make any excuses for my incessant probing. What I was trying…actually, I said I wouldn't make any excuses. I hope you actually read this letter, I hope you aren't too angry with me. Please, find it in your heart to forgive me somehow. _

_ This jacket is from Murciélago, with love._

_ I will not ask you any more questions about myself. It is now clear to me that you have no intention of regaining what we once had. I shall try to put you out of my mind. Unless you say otherwise, this will be my last letter to you._

_ Armourously,_

_ ~!*~^0## , Espada number +_

"Criss-cross, apple sause…" Orihime murmurs to herself as she crosses her legs from her place across from Jonghyung. She never said so, but with Minho being the quiet person he is, and Anónimo vanishing on her, Orihime was feeling lonelier than ever. As a result, she had been spending most of her time with the unmoving arrancar, whom hadn't uttered a word since that day before, when she had accidentally eavesdropped on the two brothers. Sighing, she stared at the letter lying in her lap, and couldn't help feeling more than a little irritated. "First you tell me how you can barely live without me, and now you're rage quitting on me? Come on!" she mutters to herself grumpily. The jacket that was mentioned in the letter was lying on the side, still folded neatly as it was when it appeared on her bedside, accompanied by a bouquet of flowers that were a shade lighter than her hair colour. Sighing again, she places her elbows against her knees, and plops her chin into her hands. Reaching up to take her pen from its perch on her ear, she carefully writes her response.

_ _,_

_ I should apologize for my last letter as well. It was uncalled for and extremely rude. Gomenasai. However, if anything, your letter has…annoyed me. You asked me several questions last time, so I think that it is fair that I ask you a couple as well. _

_ Repeatedly, you've told me that you love me. But if you do, and you know that I can't remember, why haven't you told me about it? All I know-that you've told me- was about how I told you that I thought your writing was pretty. Okay, but what else? You also said that you know me well. But if you did, how come you didn't realize that I'd react badly if you accused Yuki-chan like that? Can you see where I'm going with this?_

_ And another thing, just because I was angry at you, you're totally giving up on me? Let's say that we _were_ in a relationship. If we had just one fight, would you drop me just like that? Just because I got angry, you're going to simply forget about me? See? Are you beginning to understand what this is like from my side too?_

_ I know that you do not like Anónimo-chan. But please, consider this: I received your letters. And you have received mine. You do know that that was only possible because of a certain person's cooperation right?_

_-Orihime_

Orihime looks it over once more and looks at Jonghyung tiredly. Once again she sighes. "So now what? Got any suggestions?" the human girl asks her lone companion. Not that she expects an answer. Leaning forwards, she pats Jonghyun on the head fondly, and gives him a sweet smile. "I'm going to leave for a bit, 'kay Jjong? Be good while I'm away, promise?" She's about to back away-because she isn't really expect an answer, when, slowly, the silent arrancar's left hand rises up and touches her forhead. Orihime's eyes widen, and her mouth opens to let out a scream, but before she can, darkness takes over her mind.

:-:-:-:-:

_ "I'm coming in."_

_ You look up and see someone walk inside the room. They are wearing the standard white arrancar uniform, except his takes the shape of a tailcoat. Expectation fills you, then is replaced by slight confusion. "Hello-" the next word you say comes out garbled, and for a second, a small part of you wonders why, but the figure speaks, cutting the thought off._

_ "Inoue." He says-you can tell by the pitch of the voice that it is a male-and you know that that was the way he would always greet you. But something is different. You can almost feel his gaze tracing your face._

_ "A-ano…? Are you here for a reason –?" Again, to your frustration, the word comes out garbled. Why? You wonder to yourself. However, for you, the answer slips away, like smoke in your hands._

_ " I never do things without reason." He says simply. You analyze his face. Something inside you screams in terror. _He has no face!_ But most of you is wondering why he seems so distracted._

_ "Care to share your reason with me?" You ask._

_ He walks away from the door and towards you. "I wish to talk with you."_

_ You watch him draw closer. "Talk away." You say. Again, that little part of you that was horrified at the lack of his face questions why you aren't terrified. It questions why you feel hope, pleasure, and another unnamed feeling that is sneaking upwards from your gut. That feeling only increases as he sits down beside you. You sit close to him, unable to resist the temptation of being close to him._

_ "I had…a question for you, Onna."_

_ You blush, and for an instant you wonder why. "Okay." _

_ "What did you say the four elements of love are, Onna"_

_ You're taken aback by this question. You were expecting something else entirely. "What do you mean?"_

_ "Do not make me repeat myself."_

_ "You hear that?" You feel shocked and somewhat embarrassed at that prospect._

_ "Of course I did. Now will you please answer my question with a statement instead of more of your own?" you say, and that little part of you-that you now suspect is there courtesy of a certain blue-haired arrancar-wants to smack the dark-haired man with green tear-track tattoos running down his face._

_ Wait a second…why does that sound familiar?_

_ Instead of figuring out the answer to that question, you look down at your hands. "If you love someone, you want the best for them. You want them to succeed. You always want to be with them. You try to protect them and you would sacrifice anything for them. At least, that's what I've felt from my experience." You finish of the list in a sheepish voice, the image of an orange haired person, dressed in black coming to the forefront of your mind._

_ "I see. So, if all four of these urges were present, would that mean love was present?" he asks, as if he is making sure he is hearing things right._

_ "Well, yes, I suppose. Why are you asking?"_

_ "I see. Well then, Onna, I think it would be appropriate to say that I am in this 'love' with you."_

_ Heat envelopes your face, as a pale white hand reaches out and lightly grasps your jaw, pulling you towards his face. Your eyes are wide with shock, but also with something akin to happiness, as he brings you even closer towards him._

_ "I hope I am doing the right thing. I do not know about all of these things yet. If I am doing something wrong, stop me."_

_ That's when your lips meet, and that emotion that was lying in your gut explodes through your body, just as its name registers in your mind. _Love.

_;~;~;~;~;_

_ You blink as you see a smiling arrancar running towards you, his strange hair that starts as a brown but turns to a blonde is flying in the wind that his speed creates. "Anónimo-chaaan!" He cries as he scoops you up into his arms and spins you around once. Your shoulder-length hair whirls into your face as you squeal in surprise._

_ "J-Jonghyung-sama!" You shout in surprise._

_ He puts you down and turns you so that you face him. He's giving you a disapproving look. "What did I tell you about calling me '-sama'?" He asks, wagging a finger in front of your nose. _

_ You look down. He has a full head and a half on you, making him more intimidating than he means to be. "Gomen." You apologize softly, touching your circlet mask-fragment self-consciously._

_ "Come on Anónimo-chan, you can do better than that. What happened to those 'boosting your confidence' lessons I gave you?" He asks, faking disappointment._

_ "I, I don't remember…"_

_ Jonghyung's face tints pink for a moment, then he gives you a light peck on the nose. "Well that's easy to fix. Remembering what's forgotten is what Sabio's job is after all." He teases, patting the little dagger that is bound to his arm. "here, come on."_

_:-:-:-:-:_

Orihime's eyes fly open and she blinks in pain as the sudden light makes her eyes hurt. Turning her head to the side, she sees Jonghyung sitting as quiet as ever. _What…just happened?_ She thinks, her eyebrows knitting together. The first memory was hers. Definitely hers. The second…was Anónimo's? But how? And why? All of this thinking was making her head hurt.

Orihime closes her eyes and searches for Kurosaki-kun's rieatsu. That's when her eyes fly open as the cool and calm rieatsu suddenly vanishes. Unexplainable horror choruses through her body, and she sits up, staring in the direction where it has vanished. She blinks rapidly as images of a short, black-haired girl with a kind smile flashes through her mind. "R-Rukia-chan." You breathe. "Rukia-chan!" you scream, running to the wall where you felt the last of the rieatsu. "Iie…"

"Orihime-sama, daijobu desuka?" Minho bursts into the room with his zanpakuto drawn and his eyes flicking around the room searching for the threat.

Orihime turns and takes a deep breath, composing herself. "Gomen Minho, false alarm. But could you do me a favour?" She takes out her letter and hands it to him. "Give this to Halibel-neesama for me, will you? Onegai?" He gives her a strange look, but pockets the letter. "Of course…" He bows once and walks out the door.

"Minho." Orihime adds after a second. The arrancar turns back, and regards her with an arched eyebrow. "Please keep this a secret."

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**Sooo...whatdya think?**

**REVIEW PLEASE!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Harrow everyone! Guess what? We have reached THIRTY REVIEWS! YEAAAAA! -cues balloons andstreamers- Big shout outs to everyone who faved/reviewed/subbed! It is loved and appreciated.**

**Normally, yes, Cat and I don't update here, but since I went "galavanting in the wilderness"(or something. Please make note I was actually frolicking in the wild north) so we figured we'd double update to compensate. Hope that you like it!**

**If I owned bleach, Grimnel and renruki would be canon...**

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CHAPTER 11

Orihime closes the door to her room and sits down on the floor, crossing her arms and placing them on the couch. She rests her head on her arms and slowly blanks out as she recalls Anónimo's memory that somehow made it into her head. Now that she thinks about it, it was more like an out-of-body experience, rather than a real memory. Like as if aliens had taken her out, stuck another consciousness into her body, and she was just watching. Orihime continues musing to herself when her eyebrows knit together. Nani?

Suddenly, she feels a dark, coarse rieatsu rip through the air around her, causing the hairs on Orihime's arm to stand up. Jolting upwards, her eyes widen as the familiarity registers with her. "Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime breathes hesitantly, trying in vain to grasp at the last of the reiatsu before it disappears into the air. Behind her, the door clicks open. She stands up and turns towards the door. "Minho-kun…" She starts, then freezes as two eyes peek through the crack between the door and the wall.

"Looky looky, see? Our little princess is all alone." The dark haired arrancar says in a lilting tone. Behind her, the arrancar with dirty blonde hair smirks quietly. A cold feeling runs down Orihime's spine as memories of the same arrancar sneering cruelly at her flash through her mind. Subconsiously, she stands and takes the fighting stance that Grimmjow had shown her, raising her hands hesitantly. Her two visitors take no notice.

"O-ri-hi-me-chaaan. Can we come and plaaay~?" Loly asks in a tone that would be normally used when addressing a little child.

"What are you doing here?" Orihime asks quietly. "You're not supposed to be here."

Loly tosses her head, flipping one of her pigtails over one shoulder. "That's a good question, pequeña mascot, what in Aizen-sama's name could we be doing here?" She says in a playful tone, casually tapping a finger against her bottom lip. Under normal circumstances, it'd look cute, but her sadistic smirk and steely eyes said otherwise.

Orihime tightens her fists and raises her hands up a touch higher as the other girl stalks towards her. "If you have no business here, I'd like to ask you to leave." She says quietly.

Loly's eyebrows shoot upwards, and she shares a look with Melony. "Oh? Pequeña mascot has the spunk to talk back to us? How cute!" the last phrase turns into a snarl as she lashes out at Orihime.

The human girl's eyes widen, and she instinctively ducks, Grimmjow's training kicking in. Loly's eyes widen in shock, and Orihime seizes the opportunity to throw an uppercut at her chin. Hissing angrily Loly grabs Orihime's wrist just before her fist can connect to her face. Orihime's mouth drops open in horror, and Loly's smirk breaks out into a maniacal grin.

Cackling madly, she effortlessly throws Orihime to the floor. Orihime feels her head snap backwards and for a second she sees stars as pain stabs through her head. Loly saunters over as she struggles to stand up. Challengingly, the dark haired girl arches an eyebrow as Orihime makes it onto her feet. Again, Loly swipes at her, and this time Orihime catches it against the left side of her face as she tries to dodge it. Pivoting on her back foot she tries to land a roundhouse kick to Loly's side when her knee rises up and catches her right in the gut. Orihime feels the impact blow through her, and before she can even react, Loly punches her away. Orihime crashes into the cylindrical table on the other side of the room, and coughs violently as blood trickles down her lip.

"Ha! Serves you right!" She screeches in delight, grabbing a fistful of the human's hair, dragging her up onto her feet. "There's no way you can beat an arrancar with mere human strength!"

Orihime doesn't respond, but stares at her in quiet defiance. Gomen nii-san. So much for those defense lessons… Loly flinches under her gaze, and her lip curls up angrily. "You. What the hell is that look for?!" She shouts angrily, punching Orihime across her face viciously.

Melony- who had been standing quietly on guard up until now- 'tsk's . "Hey. Could you do this a little more quietly?"

"Urusai!" Loly snaps, then turns back to Orihime as a delighted look of revelation lights up her face. "Yes! I know! Let's tear out all your finger nails!"

"Hey, Loly…"

THWOOMN

"Wha-?!"

"What the…?!"

Orihime blinks slowly, the multiple blows to her head causing her to feel groggy. Slowly, her vision comes into better focus as the dust dies down from the explosion.

Loly and Melony's faces are twin expressions of horror when a tall and muscular figure emerges from the smoke, wearing an open jacket with the sleeves rolled up to its elbows.

"Gri…Grimmjow!"

The blue-haired arrancar doesn't say a word as he walks towards them.

"O…nii…san."

Three pairs of eyes lock onto Orihime, who can't help but smile at the sight of one of the people she had missed the most since being sent off into isolation. "Gomen ne…I guess, I'm not as good as you thought…at fighting."

Grimmjow's originally indifferent expression shatters as he takes in the bruises and scrapes on Orihime's face and immediately connects them to Loly's hands that are still knotted in her hair.

"W-what's with you?!" She finally demands, unconsciously taking a step away from the Espada who is closing in on her. "And just what the hell are you do-"

Grimmjow delivers a kick that sends Loly flying backwards, landing heavily on the floor. She looks up for a split second before she starts coughing violently.

"Grimmjow!" Melony shrieks angrily, charging him and throwing a punch at his back. Easily, Grimmjow catches her fist.

"Kisama…" He snarls angrily, tightening his grip around the petrified arrancar's fist. "How dare you touch our imouto." He says as his hand glows a blood red before discharging a cero that completely obliterates Melony. Then he turns to Orihime, who looks down at her feet.

"Onii-san." She starts when an angry, but choked hiss comes from Loly.

"A-Aizen-sama…won't stay quiet about you doing this stuff to us you know." She growls weakly, raising her head from the small pool of stomach fluids that she had coughed. "The likes of you…" Grimmjow doesn't say a word, but simply grabs Loly's ankle, and raises her leg up off the ground. Loly's eyes lock onto his hand. "Hey. Hold on, what are you…Hey!" She shouts, her eyes widening in fear as the Sexta plants his foot against the back of her knee. "Hey! Cut it out! No! Stop! Stop!" Loly's shouts turn to screeches as the tries to wriggle away in vain.

Without turning around, Grimmjow tightens his grip around Loly's ankle. "Don't look."

Orihime turns around just before the sickening snap, and the inhuman scream that echoes eerily off the walls of the room.

"I'll kill you! You're-You're gonna get killed! By Aizen-sama!" Loly screams, but the fear in her eyes does little to justify the harsh words that come out of her mouth.

Grimmjow glares at her coldly. "Yariman…as if he'd do anything like that for you. Besides. That teme doesn't give two fucks about what happens to us."

Orihime blinks as Grimmjow walks towards her, his expression unreadable. "Onii-san…"

Grimmjow reaches out to her…and punches the top of her head.

"I-itai!" Orihime grabs her head in surprise and pain, as she stares at him incredulously. "What was that for?"

"Hime you idiot! Forget when you passed out on us, this has got to be the worst thing that you could've done, where the hell were you?!" Grimmjow roars angrily, bending down so that he can get into her face. "Halibel, Emo-spada and I have been going crazy looking for you! Lilynette was in tears when she realized that you're reiatsu disappeared! Starrk had a freaking field day trying to calm her down! God damnit, Tesra wouldn't shut up about it! Though I can't believe that he'd be stupid enough to bring that up around Ulquiorra, the bastard." He ends with a growl. "Damn that fourth Espada, and his 'nilisism'. A rock hime." Grimmjow gives Orihime a glare with such killing intent that she's tempted to call out her Shun Shun Rikka shield. "He. Turned. Back. Into. An. Emo. Frigging. Rock."

"Who are you talking about?"

Grimmjow's mouth opens to continue his rant, when he abruptly closes it. No one. Forget it." He takes her hand and sets her onto her feet. "Whatever. I didn't come here just to play 'hero'. I need you to do me a favour Hime…"

Orihime blinks, then a lightbulb goes off in her head. "C-Chotto!" She whirls around and kneels beside Loly. Without saying a word, Ayame and Lily break off and the familiar golden dome erects itself around Loly's ripped off leg.

Loly glares at her in disbelief, "What the Hell are you doing?!" She shouts, her voice lacking the bravado it had when she had first threatened her. "Get your hands off of me." Loly punches Orihime again across the face, but freezes when Grimmjow appears out of thin air and grabs her hair roughly.

"Be greatful brat." He snarls angrily. "For the life of me, I don't get her but whether you like it or not, you're indebt hag." Loly sneers, but Grimmjow twists her head to the side. Loly's about to snap another insult when she sees her leg reattaching itself to the stump of her thigh.

"…No way…Impossible…"

Orihime doesn't say a word, and gets up. Walking towards Melony, she leaves the two other arrancar in silence. Once in quiet disapproval and the other in quiet horror as Melony's corpse-organs and all-reconstruct themselves before their eyes.

"Hold on a second…" Orihime finally says, breaking the silence. She turns towards Grimmjow and walks out of the room. "There's one more person I need to go to first."

The Espada grunts and follows her out of the room. Knocking softly before she enters, she crouches in front of Jonghyung. "Hello Jjong-kun." She says lightly. "I know that you probably can't hear me really, but I just wanted to let you know that I'm going to go away with Grimmjow-niisan, okay?" as she's talking to him, the golden dome erects itself around him.

"What are you doing?" Grimmjow asks quietly from behind her, and Orihime can hear the caution and slight revulsion in his voice.

Orihime's eyebrows furrow and the corner of her lips tilt down into a determined frown. "Well…If Aizen's theory is right…that I can reject anything…I could heal Jonghyung-kun."

Just as she finishes the sentence, two pale blue pupils appear in the whites of the young arrancar's eyes.

"Nee-sama…" The word single word leaves Jonghyung's lips before his eyes roll up into his head, and he falls over.

"Rest up Jjong-kun. Your Nii-san has been waiting for you..."

:-:-:-:-:

"What was that all about?"

Orihime gives Grimmjow a surprised look from where she sits piggy-back style. As of now, they're under the artificial sky, Grimmjow's steps kicking up clouds of dust with each stride."What do you mean?"

"Healing that guy."

Orihime shrugs. "I felt bad for him I guess..." and he restored a piece of my memory... She doesn't say the second part, but continues to mull that idea over. "It just felt right I guess..." she ends up finishing vaguely.

Grimmjow shakes his head, but stumbles mid-stride when the sound of a young child's voice reaches their ears.

"Itsygo! Itsygo! You can't die! Itygo!"

Grimmjow lands in the cave, and glares down at the small, green haired child with a chibi-like skull mask fragment. "Take a hike brat."

"Nii-san?" Orihime looks at him quizzically. She's not entirely sure, but his voice sounds uncharacteristically strained.

That's when she finally takes a look around the cave that probably was a tower sort of building before something blew it into smithereens. That's when she sees a figure clad in black with familiar orange hair lying face down on the ground. And then the little girl's cries from earlier finally register in her mind and immediately she puts two and two together. "K-Kurosaki-kun." she breathes in horror. Running towards him, and gently rolls him over. Her heart sink when she sees the hole in his chest, just above his collar bone.

"Heal him."

Orihime whirls around and stares at Grimmjow in shock. "What? But...why?"

Grimmjow's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "You mean you're completely fine with him staying like that?" he asks in disbelief.

"No! Of course not!...it's just, don't you hate him?" Orihime asks hesitantly, as Ayame and Lily take their places, and the golden dome once again appears.

"I-Itsygo he, Itsygo protected Nel and he wath hit directly with a thero!" the little girl bawls as she looks at Orihime. "Itsygo was protecting Nel and he got ht directly with a kick! Nel wath only holding Itsygo back! If Nel wathn't here, Itsygo would've been fine!"

Orihime bends down and strokes her head gently. "Shhh. It's okay. It'll all be alright, you'll see."

"I-it's all Nel's fault!" Nel continues sobbing, "So pwease! Pwease, Pwease save Ichigo!"

"URUSAI!" Grimmjow roars, causing the child to freeze in fear. "Enough with the screaming gaki. Shut it or I'll blow you into next week." he growls from his spot on the rubble.

Orihime shoots him a glare, and smiles reassuringly sat her before returning her gave to Ichigo. she narrows her eyes at the circular wound. Such a large amount of rieatsu is around his wound...she thinks. I can't reject it... "Who? Who would do something like this?" she asks a loud.

"Ulquiorra."

Shivers run through Orihime's body as the name seems to reverberate through her.

"It's what he does." The Sexta continues as he stand up, oblivious to the reaction his explanation is having on her. " I'm not sure if he realizes it but, whenever he takes an interest in his prey, he always punches a hole in the same place." He scowls as he walks up to her and claps her on the shoulder. "I'll teach him." he growls to himself. "What happens when you mess with someone else's prey."

"Ugh..."

Orihime, Gimmjow and Nel whip around and stare at the Strawberry who blinks groggily twice. He stares up at them with surprise on his face as he realizes who it is. "Inoue? Nel?"

"Kurosaki-kun!"

"Itsygo!"

"Shut up!"

"Nii-san!" Orihime cries in disapproval, elbowing him in the ribs (and bruising her own elbow in the process).

Grimmjow shakes his head, and there's a note of urgency in his voice. "If you've got time to chit-chat, hurry up and heal him."

Ichigo's eyebrows press together in confusion. "Grimmjow...you...Why the hell are you with Inoue?" he asks.

"Urusai and let Hime heal. I only came here to settle that score with you at full strength." he adds something under his breath, and Orihime catches her name, but doesn't make out what else he said.

"Hontou nii-san? Can I watch?" She asks curiously.

Ichigo looks incredulously between the two of them. "What?! You actually WANT to watch us fight? And what the hell do you mean 'Hime'?" he demands, giving the Espada a glare.

Grimmjow grinds his teeth. "Didn't you hear me? Shut up! Sooner or later Ulquiorra is going to wise up and come back!" he shouts in frustration, "Before that hap-!" Grimmjow cuts his sentence off as someone sonido's in just behind him.

You both whip around to see the tall, dark-haired Arrancar that you had met on several occasions standing there with a look indifference and boredom on his face.

Nii-san's fraccion?

"What are you doing, Grimmjow?" he asks calmly, his voice lacking all emotion.

Grimmjow is silent, glaring at him. Orihime glances at his back worriedly as she shifts over to place herself between him and Nel.

"What's wrong?" The other Arrancar asks Grimmjow, and by the way his shoulders tense up, she can tell that he is taunting him. "I'm talking to you."

No one says a word, but behind her she hears Ichigo roll onto his stomach and prop himself up on one arm.

"What are you trying to pull – healing the wounds of an enemy I already defeated?" he demands, when he doesnt get an answer. He points one black-nailed finger at Ichigo's head. "I killed that man for Aizen-sama. You are aware that killing him goes against Aizen-sama's wishes?"

"So he's back to Aizen-sama, now?" Grimmjow asks finally.

"I do not understand what you mean," The Arrancar says stiffly.

"Just because you had one little spat with the woman, now you're back to being an emotionless robot. I got to say, I prefer the other Ulquiorra."

Against your will, a half-choked noise escapes from your mouth as you connect this man with the Arrancar you met so long ago, that day in the throne room. 'one little spat with the woman.' no. That's..."Impossible." you breathe as your eyes widen as you put two and two together.

The man-Ulquiorra-stares at Grimmjow with no emotion and unblinkingly. "It was not just a spat. She made clear her intentions. I did not wish to inflict further pain upon her. You saw what happened the last time she remembered – we had to visit her in Szayelaporro's lab; we snuck into the room while she was asleep."

"Please, wake up Inoue Orihime. I don't know what I will do without you…"

Orihime starts to feel herself hyperventilating, "Masaka...m-masaka!"

"Orihime, what are they talking about?" Ichigo asks quietly, but Orihine barely hears him.

"She obviously had no intentions of remembering me. I decided to let the situation dissolve."

Grimmjow's hands ball into fists. "Fuck you!" he snarls.

"…What did you say?"

"You heard me," Grimmjow says. "I said fuck you! What happened to the life you promised me? You shook on it, asshole! And you're just going to "let the situation dissolve"? Not if I've got anything to say about it, bastard!"

"Nii-san!"

Grimmjow throws himself at the other Arrancar and Orihime watches helplessly as he viciously attacks the other man mercilessly. But even so, Orihime knows Grimmjow's usual fighting style, and she can tell something is off. His attacks are more desperate.

"You don't seem like the type to break promises," Grimmjow hisses, bringing his face into Ulquiorra's

"Perhaps you should re-evaluate your judgment of my personality, then," Said Arrancar responds emotionlessly.

A furious wave of killing intent explodes from Grimmjow. "Selfish bastard! You never think of anyone besides yourself, do you -?" but Ulquiorra vanishes, only to reappear out if thin air above him, with a cero charging in his finder.

"Nii-san, look out!" Orihime screams, but Grimmjow already has his own cero charging in his hand, and there's an explosion of smoke as the two cancel each other out."

As the dust dies down, Orihime catches a glimpse of Grimmjow whispering something into Ulquiorra's ear and drops something into his hollow hole. Just as he jumps away, it expands and wraps itself around Ulquiorra.

"Shit..."

And then he vanishes.

* * *

**Oooohhh... Cliffie...**

**PLEASE REVIEW! FOR THEY ARE LOVED!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hey minna! Before you read the chapter, I'd just like to express my love for you guys who reviewed the last chapter: The. Most. Reviews. A. Chapter. Of. This. Story. Has. EVER. Gotten. \(/w/)/ My eternal appreciation and thanks for you all...  
****ADDITIONALLY, two updates ago, DTR/CTF reached it's double didgit chapter! YAAAY! -cues baloons and streamers- I don't know about you guys, but I like celebrating those little review milestones...  
Anywho, I hope that you enjoy reading the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Yes. Yes I do own bleach. In an alternate universe where dragons are considered common and everyone has a pokemon as a companion.**

* * *

CHAPTER 12

Grimmjow lights down on the ground, his arm charred and smoking from the cero he had countered earlier.

"What was that?" Orihime asks in amazement her eyes lit back and forth between the place where Ulquiorra had vanished and the Sexta Espada.

"Aizen gave us Espada these 'Caja Negacion' so that we could punish our subordinates. That's what I used. They're little boxes that can eternally imprison weaker Arrancar in a separate dimension." Grimmjow's eyes narrow and seem to become darker. "But it's not designed for use on Espada. Given his power, it'll probably hold him for around two or three hours max. So hurry, alright hime?"

Orihime blinks the offers him a small smile. "Right!" She turns around and raises her rieatsu level, causing the healing process to go faster. She glances at Ichigo shyly, but quickly averts her gaze when she sees the shocked and accusing look on his face. When the last of the wounds close up she sighs in satisfaction. With a wave of her hand, she sends Ayame and Lily off to heal Grimmjow's arm and offers a hand to Ichigo. "I hope you're ready Kurosaki-kun, Nii-san's gotten stronger since you last met him!" She chirps, while giving him the best smile that she can.

He stares at her with wide eyes before grabing her wrist and yanking her behind him, before he throws himself with Zangetsu carving an arc in the air at Grimmjow with an animalistic yell.

"Santen Kishun!"

The Shinigami freezes as the golden shield erects itself between him and the Espada with a stunned look on his face. Slowly Ichigo lowers his zanpakuto and turns to face Orihime, his eyes hidden behind his hair. "What are you doing?" He asks quietly, not looking up at her. Orihime lets the shield dissolve and rubs her arm self-consiously. Biting her lip, she feels unexplainable guilt well up in her chest.

"Eto…I'm protecting my nii-san…is there something wrong with that?" She adds on at the end, somewhat defensively. Ichigo slowly walks towards her, and grabs her shoulders roughly. "Itai! Kurosaki-kun, wha-?"

"Stop it."

"Eh?"

"Just…Stop it Inoue!" Ichigo yells finally lifting his eyes and Orihime freezes when she sees the emotion in them. Fear. "Stop talking about him like you're brother! Stop acting so, so casual about me an him fighting each other! Killing! Stop acting like you're not worried I might get hurt! Stop acting like you're fascinated about us fighting! STOP ACTING LIKE SOMONE I DON'T KNOW!" Ichigo's grip tightens around Orihime shoulders, and he shakes her violently.

"Ku-Kurosaki-kun, stop! Calm down! That hurts!" Orihime protests, trying to pull Ichigo's hands off, but finds she's unable to.

"What were they talking about? Something about being in a lab? About you getting hurt? Why was he saying that he had a fight with you?! Why did Ulquiorra say you two were in love?!" Ichigo gives Orihime another violent shake and she cries out in pain as his fingers dig into her arm.

"TEME!"

Orihime flinches as Grimmjow punches Ichigo away from her, sending him rocketing backwards several feet. Ichigo stumbles and falls on his back, Zangetsu falling from his grasp. Grimmjow sonido's in front of him, kicking away the zanpakuto just before Ichigo can make a grab at it. Ichigo's eyes flick around nervously for a few moments as the Sexta glares down at him. Awkwardly, he looks up and meets Grimmjow's eyes, and Orihime can see him subtly flinch. The two stare each other down and they seem to have a silent conversation…Or, (Orihime thinks deadpanning slightly) a silent threat match.

"Nee-chan, daijobu ka?" The little green haired girl asks, hesitantly tugging on the hem of Orihime's hakama. Smiling sweetly, Orihime bends down and brushes the top of her mask fragment-which is shaped like a chibi-fied skull-comfortingly.

"Don't worry! Nee-chan is super strong!" She says happily, flexing one arm, and poking at her bicep...well, what muscle is there at least. "So don't worry, eto, Nel-chan." Orihime claps her hands together as she remembers the little girl's name.

"Orihime…"

Turning around, Orihime looks up in surprise at Ichigo, who for some reason, has found an interest in the ground a couple of feet away. "Gomen. Are you hurt badly?" he asks softly, Zangetsu handing limply at his side.

Standing up without saying a word, Orihime plants a hand on her hip, and justs it out, just like how another arrancar she knows would. Ichigo looks up at her and his eyes widen when he sees the disapproving expression on her face. Snapping forwards like a viper, Orihime throws a quick punch and Ichigo jumps, even though it's no where near close to landing on him. He looks at her in confusion, but smiles hesitantly when he sees the playful smirk on her face.

"Silly Kurosaki-kun, didn't you hear me telling Nel-chan that I was fine?" She scolds him playfully, wiggling her fist at him. Rolling his eyes, he lightly bumps his own fist against her's. Looking over her shoulder, she sticks her tongue out at Grimmjow's back. "Same goes for Nii-san."

"Baka…" Is all the response that she gets from the cat-like Espada. "Oi, Hime. Get these things off me. I don't need it." He snaps, shaking his arms, causing Ayame and Lily to titter in annoyance.

Orihime smirks to herself, then puts an innocent expression on her face. "Demo, nii-san, I though you wanted to fight Kurosaki-kun on even grounds." She says in a light and childish voice, giving Ichigo a hidden wink.

"Relax Inoue. He just wants to use it as an excuse when he loses." Ichigo says, as Orihime slides out of the way. Just in time too, as Grimmjow pounces on Ichigo, Zangetsu and Pantera appearing out of thin air in their respective owner's hands.

"This is awesome…" Grimmjow hisses as his mouth breaks out into a predatory grin that Orihime hasn't seen on his face for some time. "We're going to have ourselves a good, clean deathmatch."

Seeing Grimmjow's arm returning to its previous unscarred state, Orihime calls her fairies back, and they quickly return to her hair pin.

Behind them Nel starts sniffling, and instead of Orihime, it's the Strawberry who goes over to comfort the little girl. He rubs the top of her head reassuringly. "Come on, don't make that face Nel." He says, "You either Ino-" Ichigo promptly cuts his sentence off when he sees the soft smile on Orihime face. Instead, he gives her a confident smile. " I'm definitely going to win. So don't worry." Turning to glare at Grimmjow, he grabs Zangetsu's hilt. "Let's go elsewhere."

Grimmjow doesn't respond, but simply smirks. The two of them sonido and shunpo off, the wind whipping around in their wake.

As Ichigo lands on the ground, his rieatsu surrounds him for a split second, before it transforms itself into his bankai. Grimmjow stations himself on on of the towers that are still standing, and Orihime remembers that lesson when he told her about the advantage that a higher position had in a fight. There's a moment of tense silence…and then they attack.

Beside Orihime, Nel wimpers, as the sound of ringing swords reach their ears. Initially, she takes no notice. Instead she watches in fascination as Grimmjow fights, not quite at full strength, but as close to full strength as she's ever seen him. However, she notes, Ichigo doesn't seem to be quite at full strength either, so she knows that there'll be plenty of twists in this fight.

"Don't worry. Kurosaki-kun will win." She comments absently to Nel, as she continues to observe the two fighting.

"H-how do you know?"

"He told you, didn't he? A little bit of faith goes a long way Nel-chan."

_Like how maybe if _he_ had a little faith in _me_, he wouldn't turn back into an 'emo frigging rock'…_

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime surpresses the urge to roll her eyes as Grimmjow laughes his head off. As much as you know it's in his character to provoke his enemy, having to listen to Grimmjow antagonize his enemy can get a little annoying when it goes on for five minutes…and counting. "Would you stop playing with your food nii-san?" she mutters to herself, making sure it's not loud enough for Nel to hear.

As of now, the two are still locked together by their swords, but this time, instead of being far away, they're actually within earshot.

"…To rescue Inoue!"

Orihime starts when she hears Ichigo's shout, as the two fighters blades ring off one another again. Warmth wells up in her chest when she hears the declaration, but for some reason, her heart beats no faster than it did before. She blinks in confusion, but before Orihime can question it further, Grimmjow's laugh cuts her off.

"Ha! If that's true, why didn't you just grab her and run the moment you saw her?!" He demands, swinging Pantera in a deadly arc towards Ichigo's head. "Were you relieved to find her physically unharmed?! Even though, she might be a little fucked up on the inside?!"

The warm feeling is quickly replaced by the feeling of your gut twisting inside of you, as you see Ichigo falter for a split second.

"Kisama! What did you do to Inoue!?" Ichigo demands, and even from far away, you can see the raw anger that is in his eyes.

Orihime inhales deeply, "It's not his fault Kurosaki-kun!" She shouts, willing her voice to reach their ears. The two of them stop for a split second and stare up at her from where they're standing in astonishment. "So don't blame Nii-san. And Nii-san," Orihime plants her hands on her hips, and glares down at Grimmjow disapprovingly. "don't even think of involving _that_ into your fight. Sheesh!"

The two males share a look. Ichigo seems to ask Grimmjow something, but the arrancar just responds with a traditional smirk and the flip of the finger.

Which, of course, causes Ichigo to go flying at him in a rage.

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime's mouth drops open as she watches Grimmjow cut his finger on the base of Pantera's blade. _He wouldn't. He WOULDN'T! I know that Halibel-neechan said that Grimmjow-nii can be rash, but he WOULDN'T!_

"THE STRONGEST CERO, WHICH ONLY ESPADAS ARE ALLOWED TO DO!"

_THAT SUPER BAKA, HE WOULD!_

Ichigo, who's falling directly across from Orihime a kilometer away looks over his shoulder at her and his eyes widen in fear.

"Wait! Grimmjow!" he yells frantically.

"Saten Kishun!"

"GRAN RAY CERO!"

There's a huge explosion, and Orihime covers her head with her arms. When the dust dies down, she looks up to see Ichigo standing in front of her, and it seems like he had easily deflected the blast.

Meanwhile Grimmjow smiles to himself. That is, until a piece of rubble conks him on the head.

"WHAT THE HELL HIME?!"

"YOU BAKA! You KNOW that Gran Ray Cero isn't allowed under Las Noche's canopy!"

"STAY OUT OF THIS, GOD DAMNIT HIME!"

Orihime's about to yell a retort back at him, when Ichigo turns around towards her and despite herself, she freezes. His face is covered by a hollow's mask. And his chocolate brown eyes are now a cold yellow colour that stands out against the black sclarea. Ichigo seems to notice her uneasiness, and the yellow eye's gaze seems to soften. Not by much, but it softens.

"Wari. Are you scared?" He asks, and Orihime barely manages to mask her surprise when she hears her voice. _Drowning…it sounds like he's drowning under water_, she thinks. "Since I look like this, you'd probably have a hard time listening to me if I told you to relax. But let me say it anyways…_Relax_. 'Cause I'm gonna wrap this up real soon." He says turning around. "But first…" he growls, pointing at Grimmjow with his sword. "Talk. I don't give a damn whether or not Inoue thinks that you shouldn't involve it into the fight. _What. Did. You. Do. To. Her?!_" He snarls viciously, the strange distortion in his voice making it sound even more threatening.

Grimmjow cackles madly, but Orihime can hear a strain in his voice. "Why ever do you think I'd ever tell you? Besides, you _claim_ that you're here to rescue her? Is that why you're fighting?! Eh, Kurosaki?! Well I'm fighting, to protect _my_ and all the other Espada's _imouto!_"

A strangled sound of shock escapes from Ichigo's mouth, and when he turns around to look at her, the horror and shock in his eyes are clear as day. "W-what?"

"She doesn't _want _to be rescued! She doesn't _need_ to be rescued by a pathetic human like you! She has the ten most powerful Arrancars to call kyodai! And you know what else, Kurosaki?" Grimmjow's grin widens as he throws the words at the shinigami like they are knives. "She. Doesn't. Want. You."

"Masaka…"

Orihime feels shame rear its ugly head, but pride forces her to look up right into Ichigo's face, taking in the shock, disbelief and the look of betrayal. "It's true…you mean well Kurosaki-kun, I know you do! Demo…my place is here. It's, it's all that I've known since…since I lost my memories…" the last part comes out barely audiable, but when Ichigo shunpo's in front of her, she knows that he heard everything.

"You…lost your memories?"

Orihime nods.

"Of…of me?"

"N-no! They're hazy…but Las Noches is all that I've known since…Gomenasai, Kurosa-!"

Orihime's sentence gets cut off when Ichigo suddenly wraps his arms around her and pulls her tightly into his chest.

"Don't worry. It's alright. We'll figure something out, with everyone back home too. Shh."He says softly into her ear as Orihime feels her body shake. _He thinks I'm shaking because I'm scared, _she realizes. But she's not…she's shaking because…because she isn't craving for his embrace.

She's shaking because she knows someone else's arms are ment to be around her.

Behind them, Orihime hears Grimmjow snarl with impatience. "Hurry it up. I've been waiting for far too long for this." Ichigo starts then leaps away, going over to stand across from Grimmjow. "I've waited so. Fucking. LONG to absolutely CRUSH you!" Orihime watches in horror and awe as Grimmjow places the palm of his left hand on Pantera's blade. His fingers curl into claws as the sand whips around him in response to the air that is swirling around because of his increasing rieatsu levels.

"Grind…PANTERA!"

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime gulps as she watches Ichigo get hurled into another tower, reducing the towering structure into pieces of rubble on impact. She watches them and involuntarily shivers as she recalls the day she watched the blue-haired Espada fight Anónimo. _So this is why nii-san didn't want me to watch them fight full strength from up close…_she thinks, as Ichigo's signeature Getsuga Tensho rips through the air towards Grimmjow.

The two fighers separate for an instant, and Grimmjow fires some sort of missile like thing from his elbow. Ichigo easily evades it, but they continue on their path straight towards her and Nel. Stepping in front of the smaller arrancar, Orihime holds her hands out, ready to fortify her shield's strength, when Ichigo appears out of nowhere, blocking all five attacks.

He stands there panting for a moment, then looks up at her, and Orihime's eyes widen as his face is replaced by another hollow's, this one with red eyes, and dark hair that seems too familiar to her liking.

Orihime pats her cheeks to get herself to refocus in time to see Grimmjow demonstrating on one of the few remaning towers exactly how powerful those missiles were. The two of them resume fighting shortly afterwards, and Orihime begins spacing out.

_I…I loved Kurosaki-kun. He is my nakama. My best friend aside from Tatsuki-chan. But, but he's not the one I love right now…_Orihime watches Grimmjow pummelling Ichigo with a pained expression in her eyes.

"The, the masked Itsygo…is losing?" Orihime glances at the small Arrancar girl out of the corner of her eyes. Nel watches Ichigo fearfully as she continues to talk more to herself than to anyone else. "The time with Dordonii-sama, and that time with Ulquiorra-sama," Here Orihime take in a soft, but sharp breath as her heart skips a beat, "when he wore that mask, he squished them with ease. The masked Ichigo was invincible…For that Ichigo, to get beat up like this…" Orihime catches the look Nel gives her, but doesn't make a note of it.

"GAMBATTE, ITSYGO!" Nel suddenly shouts, causing Orihime to jump in surprise. The little girl then whirls towards her, "Hey! What's you doing?! You cheer too!"

"H-huh?"

"No, it's not 'huh'! Itsygo is fighting for you're sake! So why is you acting so afraid?! Itsygo is a good person, that's what you sayed isn't it?! You is right! Nel thinks so too! That Itsygo jumped into attack Ulquiorra-sama when he heard your name!" Again, Orihime feels her heart beat faster for an instant, but immediately after the feeling is gone, she feels guilt, because it isn't for the right reason.

At least, the reason that would be 'right' in Nel's mind.

"Itsygo is human! Even so, he becomes shinigami, puts his mask on and uses that crazy power! And its' not like it doesn't hurt him! It's obvious that he's being hurted! But he's doing it all for you! Using that power, fighting and getting all covered in blood," Nel shouts, tears threatening to overflow from her eyes, "what's the point of all that, if you don't cheer for him?!"

Orihime's eyes widen as the little girl's words register in her mind. She looks down just in time to see Ichigo crash into the base of the tower they're standing on. Grimmjow is several meters away, and seems to be waiting for the shinigami to get to his feet. Ichigo get's up slowly, and in that instant Orihime makes up her mind.

"Go get 'im, Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo looks up at her, and Orihime almost laughs when she sees the surprised expression on his face. "You can win Kurosaki-kun. You have to win! You have a lot of people waiting for you, right?" Orihime says lightly as she tilts her head to the side and smiles down encouragingly at him. "You have to win for their sakes, alright?"

The instant after she's finished talking, Grimmjow leaps at the wounded shinigami, who's back is turned towards him. But without turning around, Ichigo catches Grimmjow's hand before it makes contact. Orihime watches Ichigo say something to Grimmjow, just before Zangetsu rises up into the air, then slices back down. A second after, a red line is painted into the air….

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime's fists tighten as she watches Ichigo break through Grimmjow's Dessgaron. "See. I told you he'd win." She murmers absently as Ichigo hurls his words of resolve at the Sexta, similar to the way Grimmjow had hurled his own at shinigami not too long ago.

Zangetsu shatters the condensed blades of reiatsu as the shinigami barrels forwards. "I'll beat you! I'll beat Ulquiorra! I'll beat Aizen! And then I'll take Rukia, and Chad, and Renji back with me! And I will bring Inoue home, back to OUR family!" He yells, "I cannot allow myself to be defeated by the likes of you, GRIMMJOW!"

Orihime shuts her eyes as the black blade once again pierces through flesh and sinews. Hesitantly, she reopens them in time to see Ichigo slowly letting Grimmjow's limp body rest onto the ground before back rising up Nel and herself.

"Ku-Kuro-"

"You're…You're not hurt are you? Inoue…" he asks, as he stands in the air as naturally as he would stand on a side walk.

Orihime gives him a teasing grin, "Well, I'm mildly upset since you beat my Nii-san, but," She pauses as a green blurr appears in the corner over her vision. _Eh?_

"ITSYGO!"

"GYAAAHAA!"

Orihime claps her hands over her mouth as Nel's flying tackle hug sends the shinigami skidding back a good five or six meters.

"You, YOU IDIOT! What were you thinking?!" Ichigo shouts indigniantly as he holds the little girl up, "We're in mid-air! You'd die if you fell!"

Orihime smiles as she sees Ichigo's expression soften, no doubt because of something the adorable little arrancar had said.

"Thank you Nel." He says, rubbing her head, "I'm just glad that Inoue's alright." He looks up at Orihime, and she just smiles weakly back. There's still a look of betrayal in his eyes. And she doesn't like it.

"What can I say? My anikitachi have made sure that I've gotten good and strong!" She chirps, striking a pose. To her relief and delight, Ichigo huffs in amusement. "Don't be suck a worry…wart?" Orihime's sentence ends in a question when Ichigo grabs her by the waist and props her up onto his shoulder. "W-wait, Kurosaki-kun, what are you doing?" She stammers, as her face heats up.

"What am I doing? We're going down. I'd be quicker for me to carry you tan to try and find stairs in all this rubble right?" He asks, completely oblivious to Orihime discomfort.

"O-oh…I see…"

"Don't worry, it's not like you're as heavy as I thought you'd be-GYAH!"

Orihime looks over her shoulder in surprise as Ichigo glares down at Nel.

"You little…"

"You can't talks to ladies that way…There's a special way to talk to ladies y'know." Nell says in a lecturing voice, and Orihime can't help but giggle at her tone. For some reason, it reminds her of Grimmjow's lecturing voice when he was teaching her how to sparr. "Even if they's heavy, you's s'pposed to tell them they're not! EVEN IF THEY'S HEAVY!"

"Don't worry too much Nel-chan, relax a little…" Orihime says as Ichigo leaps down from the tower, grumbling under his breath the whole way down.

"There we go…" He murmers to himself, "For now since I'm going to help Chad and Rukia-"

"Wha-What about us?! Are you just gonna leave us here?!" Nel protests, tears already welling up in her eyes.

"That's now what I meant, come with me. Staying here would probably be more dangerous." Ichigo explains as he sets Orihime down.

"Nii-san!"

Orihime dashes forwards as Grimmjow appears behind him, halting a couple steps away when the battered and bloody arrancar snarls angrily.

"Like I'd lose…there's no way…THAT I COULD LOSES TO YOU!"

Grimmjow tries to charge forwards, but stumbles. However, instead of falling flat onto his face, a pair of arms catches him, breaking his fall.

"Stop it nii-san. It's over and done with already." Orihime says softly, not bothering to use Soten Kissun to heal his wounds. She already knows that Grimmjow's pride won't let him allow her to heal his injuries.

"She's right Grimmjow." Ichigo says from behind them, walking up to the two of them. "I don't know if you're a king or what. But crushing everyone you dispise, and standing alone as the king, there's no fun in something like that. If you despise me, then I'll fight you as many times as you want. Knock it off already."

Orihime feels Grimmjow slump against him for a split second before he shoves her away roughly. "Go fuck yourself!" he roars, "You're-"

Orihime watches in horror as she lays down on the ground as a giant cresent shaped blade collides with Grimmjow. For a split second, time seems to freeze. "Nii…san?" the blade gets yanked out of the wounded Espada's body, and time returns to normal speeds as two figures appear behind them, and Grimmjow's body falls to the ground. Orihime mouth opens in horror as wild blue hair is replaced by brown locks that reach the owner's chin, and blue eyes are exchanged for the same shade of gray of her own eyes. _No…nonononononononononoooo!_

"ONII-SAAAN!"

* * *

**GRIMMY-NEKO-CHAAANNN! TT_TT**

**I hope that this wasn't too boring, but it's kind of nessisary. Just as a fair warning, there's going to be two more chapters of re-written canon stuff for chapter-spacing reasons. Gomen ne. I'll try to make them as interesting as possible. -determined face-**

**So what did you think? Like it? Hated it? (I myself am leaning towards the latter option -harumphs-) PLEASE REVIEW!**

**p.s Bleach, Naruto, Nurarihyon no Mago, and Soul Eater got updated. Me is happy.**

**p.p.s During class I started obsessing about Vic Mingogna (aka Spirit (soul eater), Tamaki Souh (OHSHC) Edward Elric (FMA) and our fave cueball) and brough up Soul Eater. A teacher of mine was marking some social science homework her other class had and the person started talking about said anime. It's suffice to say I had a mini fangirl attack when she asked me to explain what it was to her/help her mark -evil grin-**


	13. Chapter 13

**Orginized Moony:BAKA! BAKABAKABAKABAKA! MOONY YOU IDIOT, HOW COULD YOU FORGET TO UPDATE ON TIME?!**

**Disorginized Moony: but, but, but the FMA volume 22!-cowers in emo corner of room-**

**Orginized Moony: THAT'S A PATHETIC EXCUSE! HOW DO YOU EXPECT READERS TO APPRECIATE THE STORY IF YOU DON'T EVEN REMEMBER TO UPDATE ON TIME?!**

**DMoony: GOMENASAII!TT_TT**

**disclaimer: no.**

* * *

"ONII-SAN!"

Orihime instinctively summons her Soten Kishun and desperately tries to tame the terror that lies deep in her chest.

"Who are you?" Ichigo demands from behind her, as the sound of foot falls on the sand reaches Orihime's ears. "An Espada? Who are you?! Answer me!"

Orihime risks a glance over her shoulder and her eyes dilate in terror. "N-Nnoi..."

"Nnoi...tora...kisama..." Grimmjow coughs weakly, even as his wounds slowly begin to stitch up.

The quinto Espada stares them down for a tense moment. "What? You're still alive?"

Orihime feels herself being shoved out of the way, and she lands hard on the sand, several meters away. Looking up, she sees Ichigo standing over Grimmjow's wounded body, blocking the strike from Nnoitora's strange hafted weapon.

"What are you doing?" Nnoitora asks as he stares the substitute shinigami down.

"What am I doing?" Ichigo demands, glaring right back up at the Espada, who stands an easy head and a half over him. "Why are you still going after him when he can't move?"

Nnoitora barks a laugh as the two separate. "What's this? I can't even look at you, Grimmjow!" he sneers down at the fallen Sexta "The man that defeated you, is protecting you?! And you..." he turns his gaze onto Orihime who flinches, as the bloodlust turns into something more predatory as his eyes rake over her body. "Damn girl, you really like to stir up shit. First with Emo-spada, then with that old pervert, then with this loser, then with that weakling, and back to that piece of shit? It's about time Aizen-sama put your custody in...capable hands, don't you-"

"URUSAI!"

Nnoitora slowly looks back over to Ichigo, with a cold glint in his eyes. "What's your name, shinigami?" he asks, and Orihime can already feel the killing intent begin to radiate off the Spoo-ahem, Espada.

"Kurosaki Ichigo."

Nnoitora snorts to himself. "Kurosaki, eh? I'll try to remember that...at least, until you're dead!"

Two charge at each other as Orihime crawls back towards Grimmjow, who is still healing. "It's okay, everything is okay!" she whispers to herself, as she channels all the rieatsu that she can into healing Grimmjow as soon as possible, as discreetly as possible. She takes a risk to look up at the two battling, but freezes when she makes eye contact with the lanky Espada.

"Tesla!"

"Yes, sir." Orihime jerks backwards as a hand wraps around her mouth, and throws her to the ground, just as Soten Kishun shatters into thousands of tiny, golden pieces.

Orihime let's out a muffled scream as her back arches in protest. "Tsshah-kfn?!"

"Orihime!"

"Keep your eyes on me."

Straining her neck, Orihime looks over to Ichigo who swiftly dodges under Nnoitora's strike.

"Let her go!" he yells angrily as he dodges the Arrancar's strikes.

Nnoitora sneers as him, "Very funny. Ha! You probably think you could beat me if the girl were free!" he leers at him as he slowly sticks out his tongue mockingly, revealing the number tattooed there. Ichigo's stride falters for a second as he understands what it means. "Do you know what this is? It's my rank." the quinto says in a patronizing tone, "It means I'm a lot stronger than that weakling you were barely able to beat." The lanky Espada's smile widens impossibly as Orihime struggles desperately to free herself. "It means you're finished." Nnoitora says with relish, pointing one long finger at the shinigami. "Sorry, I already forgot your name."

Orihime feels adrenaline rush through her as she rips Tesla's hand off her mouth. "NIGERO, KUROSAKI-KUN!" she screams desperately, and the sudden noise causes Nnoitora to hesitate for a split second. And that second is all that it takes for Ichigo to shunpo out of range.

Nnoitora rounds onto his Fraccion with a snarl. "Shut her up! I don't want any interference, got it?!" he snarls, before returning his attention to Ichigo.

"Gomenasai, Nnoitora-sama." Tesla apologizes, without breaking eye contact with Orihime. He eases back and roughly lifts Orihime to her feet, twisting her around so that her back is against his chest.

Orihime wiggles uncomfortably against his tight grip. Tesla releases one hand, but quickly places his free arm around her torso. "What are you doing?" she asks quietly, as she watches Ichigo and Nnoitora continue to battle it out in the distance.

"Nnoitora-sama has ordered me to prevent you from moving, or assisting the shinigami or Grimmjow." The sandy-blonde hair hides his eyes, and Orihime's heart sinks as she hears the coldness and detachment in it.

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime grits her teeth in frustration as she watches Ichigo being easily overpowered by the Quinta. As helpless as always. Exhaling softly she glances at her Shun Shun Rikka.

"Don't even think of fighting me with your abilities. Your power is immense, but the Rikka-the reshitai it's made of-is weak-"

"Does it look like I care Tesla-kun?" Orihime finally snaps, whirling around to face him, ignoring her arm that protests against the movement. "Does it look like I care about our 'power difference'?! And I bet Tsubaki-kun, Shun'o-kun, Hinagiku-san, Ayame-chan, Lily-chan and -san don't care either!" her hair pins flash, and Tesla's grip loosens a fraction in surprise at the burst of killing intent that comes off the usually pacifistic girl.

Tesla inhales sharply, and looks away. "Urusai..." he growls quietly, and Orihime can easily see the indecision that is in his eyes.

"Let me go Tesla-kun. It's not fair, it's not right!" she pleads, and his expression softens for a split instant before a soft noise reaches their ears. Reflexively, Tesla fires a cero from his eye at a pile of rubble, causing it to explode into pieces, and sending a tiny figure flying.

"Nel-chan!" Orihime's eyes widen as she recognizes the little body that rolls to a stop on the sand, hands clutching her head as she shakes in fear. "Nel-chan?"

Orihime then watches Ichigo fly past, landing with a 'thud'.

Nnoitora sneers at Ichigo before looking down at the little Arrancar girl. When he sees her, he pauses in disbelief. "Are you...Nel?"

"Nani?"

Realization dawns on the dark-haired Espada's face. "I knew it. That Estigma!" he drawls, tapping the bridge of his nose,"But you're so...raggedy." he says, after pausing a moment to come up with the right word. "Tell me, is your broken mask tingling?" he asks mockingly, laughing his head off as Nel sobs quietly.

"Leave her alone!"

"What's going on?" Ichigo says with a grunt as he stands. "You, know Nel?"

Nnoitora's malicious smile turns into an unimpressed scowl. "What's this? I was wondering what she was doing here. You must've brought her here, eh?" he stares down at Ichigo disdainfully. "But judging from the look on your face, you don't even know who she is. And as for you..." Nnoitora turns towards Orihime and shakes his head in mock disbelief. "I'm surprised that Neko-chan hasn't spilled his guts out to you. Y'know. Him hogging all your time because you remind him of her."

Orihime's about to shout a protest when a weak grunt sounds from behind them. Orihime turns around to see Grimmjow-whom had been lying quietly up until now-struggling to prop himself up onto his arms, and stand.

"Nii-san!"

Grimmjow coughs weakly,"Urusai...and leave her...out of this."

Nnoitora rolls his eyes and returns his attention to Ichigo. "She's Nel. Nelliel Tu Odelshwank. A former Espada."

Orihime's eyes widen as she makes the connection with the story Halibel had told her about her predecessor.

"She disappeared mysteriously along with her Fraccion several decades ago. Nnoitora and only one other Espada were close to her really, and no one has seen or heard of her since."

"Masaka..." she breathes, staring at the little girl in disbelief.

"That's right. What? Did you think she was a harmless child? Idiots! She tricked you all!"

"T-that's not true. I wasn't an Espada. That's impossible." The little girl says weakly, as Nnoitora walks towards her with contempt easy to see in his eyes.

"Nani?"

Orihime feels panic rises up in her as Nnoitora walks up to her. "Leave her Nnoitora!"

"Are you serious? Don't tell me you've forgotten,"

"I haven't forgotten anythin'. I wath neber an Espada." Nel whimpers fearfully.

The Quinta 'hmps'. "You're still annoying," he growls, lifting his foot up over her head, "but in a new way now. You bore me." he says, stomping down onto her, and Orihime shrinks against Tesla, and squeezes her eyes shut.

Thmp

Orihime peeks through here eyelashes, and her mouth drops open when she sees Nnoitora's leg trapped in the blue haired man's grip, who somehow managed to sonido in front of her just before the Quinta's foot collided with her body.

"Teme...you'll never touch her again." Grimmjow snarls, somehow getting his second wind. His head sags forward, but manages to spit a wad of blood and spit onto Nnoitora's uniform.

"Tesla. Make sure she watches. Every. Single. Second. Got it?" Nnoitora growls. His face contorts cruelly, and he sticks out his tongue again, but this time, a small yellow ball forms and begins charging power.

Tesla's hand cups Orihime's chin and forces her to turn her head and her mouth opens in a silent scream as the

yellow cero discharges point blank right in the sexta's face.

"NO!"

* * *

**...is it just me or is there a trend forming when I decide to cap off chapters? What do you think? Loved it? Hated it? Tell me via a REVIEW!**


	14. Chapter 14

**GYEAAAHHH FINISHED! Okay. So happy week before Halloween minna! -demonic laugh of madness- Idk about you, but I'm psyced for trick or treating. And for the record: Yes, I'm still going. Yes I'm too old to do it. No I don't care if you think I'm too old. VALID EXCUSE TO BREAK OUT A COSPLAY, MUHAHAHAHHAHAHAH!**

**Ahem.**

**DISCLAIMER: NOPE!**

* * *

Chapter 15

_"NO!"_

There's an animalistic wail that echoes through the area, and Orihime feels her legs buckle under her. "Monster! Monster!" The voice screams, and Orihime's vaguely aware that it might be her own. Tesla's hands let go of her, and she collapses onto the ground, her limbs no longer listening to what she says.

"Nii-san, Nii-san..." she whimpers, as she watches the dust die down, except instead of two figures, there are three: one standing, one kneeling, and one stationed between the two. She gasps when the cloud finally settles revealing Ichigo, hollow mask already crumbling from his face, standing with Zangetsu still at the ready. He's breathing heavily, but aside from that, is alright.

"I never though you to be the protective type, Grimmjow." he comments, as if he didn't just protect the feline Arrancar from death.

Grimmjow's shock easily mirrors the complete look of disbelief on Nnoitora's face as he stares at the shinigami who once again saved his life. "DAMNIT KUROSAKI, stay out of this!"  
Ichigo's about to respond, when Nel interrupts him.

"Itsygo! You hasta listen to Grimmjow-sama!" she pleads from behind the two, "I don't wants you to get hurts Itsygo! I wathn't lying!"

"Of course you weren't." Ichigo grins at the girl over shoulder. "Don't worry Nel. Since Neko-chan here wants to help out so much, he'll play defense and I'll take the offense. We'll-!"  
Nnoitora kicks Ichigo aside, and Grimmjow gets thrown aside, Nel tucked tightly and safely in his chest. Orihime allows herself to grin as Grimmjow rolls out of the fall, and comes up one one knee. At least, until a fountain of blood gushes out from his mouth, and he falls unconscious, his body still wrapped protectively around the little girl.

"Itsygo!"

"No!"

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime cringes as Ichigo's tortured screams rip through the area.  
"Kurosaki-kun! Iie! Let me go! Let me go! Damnit Tesla-kun!" she bawls pulling trying desperately to get away from Tesla, who holds her back halfheartedly.

"ITSYGO!" Nel's own scream echoes through the area, followed by an explosion of pink rieatsu that leaves everyone frozen in shock.

There's a tense silence as everyone watches the dust die down, revealing a woman, who looks exactly like Nel, except older, and with a calmer, and almost colder expression on her face. However, she's still wearing the same green cloak-like dress, except it's now torn in two, exposing her midriff, revealing the body like the Amazon warriors Orihime read about in ancient history classes.

"Is, is that really Nel-chan?" Orihime breathes in disbelief. Tesla nods in silent confirmation.  
Nel blinks once and looks down at the unconscious Sexta with gentle eyes. "You were being reckless again...weren't you Grimmjow..." she says softly, brushing his matted hair out of his face, and pulling his body half onto her shoulder.

"Keh. So you've returned to that form, have you Neliel." Nnoitora growls. Orihime watches as Neliel vanishes, sonidoing so quickly that she appears several yards away from the Quinto with Grimmjow and Ichigo in her arms in a fraction of a second.

Orihime watches them talk for a moment, when the former Trecera lunges towards Nnoitora, and the second round of fighting begins.

:-:-:-:-:

**_BOOM_**

Orihime watches in awe as Nel's pink cero collides with Nnoitora, sending a plume of smoke and sand flying into the air.

Behind her, Tesla's hands fall limply to his sides, and his breathing becomes uneven. "Nnoitora-sama!" He sprints forward, but at the last second, halts as Orihime manages to grab his wrist. "What are you doing…Orihime-sama?" He asks quietly, not turning around to look at her.

Orihime bites her lip uncertainly. "You…didn't want to hurt me. Or make me watch Nnoitora hurt Kurosaki-kun or Nel-chan did you." Tesla's shoulders hunch forward, and Orihime smiles sadly at the back of the quincuagésimo arrancar's head, "You don't have to do things you don't want to. Not with us. Please Tesla-kun." She says softly, as persuasively as she can.

There's a moment of tense silence, when he finally looks over one shoulder at her. "Arigato Orihime-sama. But I am the sworn Fraccion of Nnoitora Jigura, quinto Espada. I will not abandon my master no matter what. Gomen." He then slowly pulls out of her grip, and dashes off towards the location where Nnoitora fell.

Turning to Ichigo and Grimmjow, Orihime huffs, and touches her hairpins with a look of determination on her face. "Soten Ki-"

"ITSYGOOO!"

Orihime jumps backwards as Nel tackle hugs Ichigo, and soon the sound of cracking bones come from them.

"I'M SO HAPPYY! I'M REALLY, TRULY, HAPPY YOU'RE SAFE ICHIGO!"

"GYAAAAAAAAAA!"

"E-eto! Nel-chan, ano, Neliel-sama, yamero onegai! You're going to kill him! Kurosaki-kun's wounds aren't healed yet!"

Nel squeaks and drops the Ichigo's body, which lands with a dull thump on the ground, his eyes rolling back into his head. "Gomenasai, gomen ne, gomen!" She apologizes quickly, blushing bashfully. Her eyes then fall on Grimmjow, who's still unconscious, but breathing. She tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, as she gazes down at him with an unreadable expression on her face…and vomits on his face.

Orihime's mouth drops open in shock. "N-Neliel-sama?!"

The former Trecera grins at the girls shocked and incredulous face. "Don't worry Orihime-chan! It's just my saliva, it has healing properties see?"

"Ew…The fuck…is on...face?" Grimmjow snarls weakly, a hand shakily coming up and whipping the spit off his face.

Nel scowls. "It's good for you, and you know it. So stop whining mister duodecimo." She harumphs.

Grimmjow snorts, and Orihime senses that they just shared an inside joke. "Right. 'cuz I miss getting vomited on…when I get my ass handed to me."

Nel opens her mouth to retort, when Tesla's body comes flying past them and crushes a nearby boulder.

Whirling around, Nel's eyes widen in surprise as Nnoitora rises out of the sand, worse for wear, but still standing. "Who told you to let go of the girl?" He snarls at his fraccion, who's still struggling to rise out of the rubble.

"M-my deepest apoligies."

Nnoitora rolls his eyes, and turns his gaze to Nel's. His mouth widens into his trademark grin, when he sees her stunned face. "What's wrong? 'I tacked my own cero onto the one I absorbed and shoved it down his throat. So why is he still alive?' Your face cays what you're thinking." He saunters closer, the smile not fading from his face at all. "I can't believe I forgot about that. 'Cero Doble', is one of your signature techniques. I should've been more careful. But you're forgetting something as well. How many years do you think has passed since you've vanished from this place?" He jeers. "Don't think that the raw power of the current espada is the same as when you were here Neliel!" His eyes narrow, and once again, he becomes dead serious. "I'll show you that the number on you back no longer has any meaning.

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime watches in horror as Nel's body reverts back into its child form, just before she deals the final blow on the Quinto Espada.

Nnoitora too stares in shock before maniacal laughter erupts from his mouth as her stomps down on her head, crushing her face into the sand. "END OF THE LINE NELIEL!" He cackles madly.

"Nel!" Ichigo shouts, only to get thrown down face first into the sand.

"Give up. Neliel was your last glimmer of hope, and it's all burned out." He growls, grinding the shinigami's face into the sand. "I think I'll keep her as a pet. Along with Princessa over there." He adds, and Orihime shrinks back into Tesla's chest, his own arms wrapping around her protectively. "Tesla. I'm going to trade places with you. This one's done for. Do what you want with him."

Orihime shakes her head frantically, her panic finally spilling over. "No. No, no, no, no! Please! No, don't do it, please Tesla-kun, please!" She begs frantically, shying away from Nnoitora who stalks closer.

Orihime starts to hyperventilate as Nnoitora's hand reaches out towards her, and just as his longs fingers are about to touch her cheek, Orihime feels herself being jerked back, and finds herself several feet away from him, Tesla's arms tugging her close to his body.

Orihime looks up at Tesla whose arm wrapped around her body pulls her tightly into his chest, protecting rather than restraining. Nnoitora stares at him with a look of shock, disbelief and disgust on his face. "What do you think you're doing, Tesla?" He demands in a dangerously low voice. "Get your sorry ass back here, give me the girl, and beat this bastard's fucking brains out, while I make her watch."

Tesla grits his teeth as the Quinto holds a hand out to him, demanding the exchange of the two. "I…I believe that this is out of line…"He says hesitantly, and there's a tense moment where the two men stare each other down. Suddenly, there's an unseen shift, and Orihime feels something topple onto her. Grunting she wriggles away, only to have something thick and wet fall into her face. Reaching up to wipe it out of her eyes, Orihime freezes and stares uncomprehendingly at the red liquid the runs down her face, into her eyes, and standing her hands. Shaking uncontrollably, she turns around to see Tesla's body lying face down, partly over her legs.

"T-Tesla…kun?"

Nnoitora spits in disgust, yanking back his zanpakuto into his hands, "Idiot. I always knew you liked Pet-sama more than what was damn healthy. It's too bad," Nnoitora's tone becomes mocking as he walks over and picks Orihime up by her throat, her eyes still not leaving Tesla's limp body. "maybe if you were man enough, I might've let you keep her as a pet!"

Orihime scratches weakly as Nnoitora's hands as her eyes flick from each of the bodies lying on the field of bloodstained sand. Whimpering, tears begin streaming from her eyes as Nnoitora tightens his grip on her throat. _Nii-san. Kurosaki-kun. Neliel-sama. Tesla-kun. Minna. Everyone!_

"Stop…don't hurts Orihime-neechan…!" the squeaky, yet determined voice says.

Orihime turns towards the voice along with Nnoitora. "Nel..iel-sama. Run. Now!" She chokes out, kicking at her captor weakly, as the lack of oxygen makes her vision blurry.

"Even better. You can watch you little friend die first!" He grins maniacally, pulling his hand holding his sword back to plunge it into her body.

_"Remember what was forgotten, Sabio."_

Just before Nnoitora's about to stab down, a new rieatsu washes over them, and Orihime gasps as she recognizes the signature. A feeling of warmth fills her body, and she feels herself relax.

Nnoitora, however, lets out a tortured snarl, dropping both Orihime and his weapon onto the ground unceremoniously. Clutching his head, he sinks to his knees. "Mother…fucker, what do you think you're doing?" He snarls, glaring at the new comer who has stationed himself between him and the child arrancar.

"Stopping you from doing something you'll regret…" he says, brushing his brown and blonde hair out of his eyes.

Orihime coughs weakly, and rubs at the bruises that are forming on her neck. "Jonghyung-kun."

The once silent arrancar gives her a small wave, and Orihime's eyes lock onto the strange blade that wraps around the base of his index finger, and extends to a thin, pointed blade. "And repaying Orihime-sama as well.

"The hell you will!" Nnoitora roars, picking up his zanpakuto from the ground, and swinging it around wildly, "You were never even close to Tesla's level! How do you think you could ever possibly beat me, the fifth espada?!" he cackles gleefully. He abruptly stops when the younger arrancar appears out of thin air in front of him.

"I was never good at combat. But strategy. That's my kind of thing." Jonghyung says in a dangerous, low voice, standing calmly, even as Nnoitora swings his sword down onto him.

"KISAMA!"

"_Recuerdo_."

Nnoitora freezes just before his blade makes contact with Jonghyung, and the same black wave from before overtakes Orihime's mind as she falls unconscious.

:-:-:-:-:

_"The coldness in my heart, melted suddenly. Feelin' oh so warm, since the first time that we meet. And without me seeing it, you have filled my heart secretly, ohhh." Orihime finds herself staring up at the ceiling, fingers drumming on her chest, as she sings softly to herself. "One day as I walk, heading towards home, noticed I can't stop, thinking about you. That moment I realized, you were in my heart I knew…Maybe you're the one, maybe, hoping so. Thinking you might be. I've been waiting, other part of me. Maybe it is true. All along it's you. The closest to my heart, I'm unaware, but baby I'm in love with you…"_

_Orihime hear a soft knocking at the door, and she jolts upwards, eyes wide as her caretaker, turned friend, turned maybe something else enters with his usual stoic expression. "U-Ulquiorrra-kun!" She squeaks indignantly, frantically brushing her hand over her hair. "H-how long have you been there?" she asks, blushing in embarrassment, and her cheeks heat up even more, as she savours the sound of his name rolling off her own tongue._

_"What do you mean onna."_

_"Have, did you…how long have you been outside my door?"_

_"I have just arrived. Did you expect me any earlier?"_

_"No, it's just…never mind."_

:-:-:-:-:

_ Orihime paces around the room restlessly, pen in her hand, and a piece of paper staring at her mockingly from across the room. Giving it a death glare, she lets out a frustrated scream. "Fine! You win this round." She grumbles grudgingly, snatching the piece of paper up, and steeling herself._

_Dear Ulquiorra,_

_Okay. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing. And also honestly, I think you're going to laugh at me. And I know it's only been a short while…oh god, what if we end up like Romeo and Juliet! OAO! NEVERMIND OFF TOPIC! So, I just wanted to record this. Officially. On paper. You know, before something happens:_

_I, Inoue Orihime love Schiffer Ulquiorra. _

_Did you read that Ulquiorra? Did you? As Naruto would say, BELIEVE IT! Because that'll never, ever, EVER change! Don't you forget that!_

_Love, love, and love forever,_

_Mrs. Inoue-Schiffer Orihime (if you'll have me __J__ )_

:-:-:-:-:

"Orihime-sama!"

Orihime's eyes flutter open, revealing a teary eyed Nel and Jonghyung looking down on her, the latter with a sad, but boyish smile on his face. "Neliel-sama. Jonghyung-kun. Wha-?" She slowly sits up and looks around in confusion. The cinquenta-quinto arrancar rubs the back of his head self-consciously as he helps her to stand.

"Eto. Like I said earlier. Combat related stuff ain't my forte. Aaannd that kinda includes fine control. Sorry." His carefree expression turns to a serious one. "But you probably felt recuerdo's effect too…"

Orihime looks away. "Yeah. Kinda." Her eyes light onto the bodies of Ichigo and Grimmjow, and she shrieks, causing Nel to latch onto her midriff in fear, and for Jonghyung to grab his dagger from its sheath. "IDIOT! HEAL THEM ALREADY HIME!" she smacks herself, and runs towards them, her Soten Kisshun already in place. Falling to her knees in front of the shield where Ichigo is lying, still unconscious.

"Ofkuro…"he murmurs restlessly as his bruises slowly begin to fade. "Ofkuro…"

Orihime's eyebrows knit together as a memory of her and Tatsuki talking about Ichigo and his mother surfaces for a moment, but then flits off. "You don't have to worry anymore Kurosaki-kun. The fighting's ove.." Inhaling sharply, Orihime stands up and whirls around, Tsubaki already out of his dormant state and whirling around her head. "Where's Nnoitora?!"

Jonghyung puts an arm on her shoulder and Orihime calms down slightly as he nods in the direction of the still kneeling Espada, who's zanpakuto lies discarded on the ground. "You don't have to worry Orihime-sama. Nnoitora-sama won't attack us. After recuerdo's effect, I doubt he even has the will to fight."

Orihime turns her focus back on healing the two arrancar and shinigami, though she still feels uneasy about the once hostile Espada so close to them. "What do you mean? I don't understand."

Jonghuyng sits down beside her, and Nel hops onto his shoulder to watch Orihime do her work. "Recordo translates into 'to recall' or 'to remember'. What it basically does is can make your most haziest memories about an even or a person come to the forefront of your mind." He explains softly, absently staring at the golden dome in front of him. "In this case, I made Nnoitora remember the feelings he had for Neliel-sama that he buried long ago, when he cast her from Las Noches. And uh, I guess you guys had something similar happen to you huh?" he adds sheepishly on the end.

Orihime sits down and brings her knees up to her chest and sighs. "Yeah. Something like that."

There's a moment of silence, when Nel tugs on Orihime's sleeve. "Orihime-nee?"

"Yeah Neliel-sama?"

"Grimmjow-sama. Does you knows him weally well?"

Orihime opens up her arms and Nel hops into them, giving her a curious look, "Well. For the most part yeah. Why?"

"Nel wemembers travelling with him."

Orihime blinks in confusion and glances at the other arrancar, who only shrugs at the odd statement.

"I see…"

:-:-:-:-:-

Grimmjow gives Ichigo a death glare which the shinigami enthusiastically returns. And Tesla's caught in the middle of the crossfire, sweatdropping nervously.

"Eto, Nii-san." Orihime laughs uneasily, pulling the barely healed Sexta away from Ichigo as far as possible. Translation: an inch.

Grimmjow growls low in his throat. "Bastard."

Ichigo arches an eyebrow as a vein throbs on his forehead. "Moron."

"Freak-show."

"You're one to talk you mutated house-cat."

"Damn piece of fruit."

"Shut up!"

"Make me you red faced, green topped runt!"

"Orihime-sama? Help?"

"**SHUT UP YOU DAMN PIG!**"

"All of you, QUIET!"

The three newly healed men turn to Orihime who gives them her best death glare. "I _just_ finished healing all of you. No fighting! Got it? Jonghyung here agrees with me don't you…" Orihime turns to the only civil arrancar to find a familiar pale face, framed with icy blue hair. "Anónimo-chan!" Orihime walks towards her with a smile forming on her face. "Where have you been all this time? I've missed you!" She comes to a halt just in front of the two as something on Jonghyun's uniform flashes in the artificial light coming from the ceiling of Las Noches.

Jonghyun's head, which is bowed down, lolls towards the side where Anónimo is standing. "Doushite…Nou-chan?" He asks weakly, as his hollow mask shattering into tiny fragments as a dark vertical line slices downwards from his chest to his feet.

"Orihime move!"

Orihime stumbles backwards, her mouth opening into a silent horrified scream as the boyish arrancar's body falls to her feet, splattering the tips of her boots with blood. "N-No! Y-yuki…Anónimo-chan. W-what are you doing?!" she asks, her voice shaking slightly as terror choruses through her body. Anónimo stares at her with her pale and glassy eyes, shaking her zanpakuto once to remove the blood left by the cinquenta-quinto.

Anónimo reaches out to Orihime, who's frozen in fear and confusion, and somehow looks over her shoulder to the four left standing in shock. "Aizen-sama requests her presence."

"Orihime-sama!"

"Hime!"

"Inoue!"

"Iie!" Orihime spins around and for a split second she sees Grimmjow, Tesla and Ichigo reaching out for her, when a sharp tug rips her backwards, and she feels herself being dumped onto the floor.

"Welcome back. Orihime."

Slowly, Orihime looks up and stares up at Aizen, who's standing at the top of the tall staircase, looking down on her. Flanking him are Tousen and Gin, both whom are facing the opposite direction, as if they're waiting for something. "Aizen…"

"You're breaking my heart, Orihime." The human girl jerks backwards as the ex-taicho appears out of thin air in front of her face, as he caresses her chin. "What happened to my dearest daughter who was so devoted to me?"

Orihime smacks away his hand and steps back, struggling to keep herself from shaking. "Don't touch me." She snaps, crossing her arms over her chest.

Aizen smiles patronizingly at her, "I'm sorry. It seems that I've upset you. But needn't to worry. Just wait for us here until we return from destroying Karakura Town." He says, as a Garatana opens behind him.

Orihimes eyes dilate as the words register in her mind. "Destroy Karakura Town?"

"Correct. We will destroy Karakura Town," He says, turning and walking at a leisurely pace towards the Garatana, "and create the ouken. Anónimo-chan will be fighting alongside your 'Ggio-nii' and the rest of Barragan's fraccion, won't you?"

"Hai. Aizen-sama." She says softly once before sonidoinig away.

Aizen nods thoughtfully. "Kaname. The Tentei Kuura."

The blind general takes something out of his pocket. "Yes sir." He says as he throws the objects into the air. They latch onto his arm, and a strange patter appears on it. "Bakudo number seventy-seven. The Tentei Kuura."

"Can you hear me, intruders?" Aizen asks, but because of the strange echoing effect in his voice, she knows that everyone can hear him. "First, allow me to compliment you for defeating so many Espadas."

_N-nani? But, who? Who died?_

"And now…we will begin your invasion of the World of the Living. I'll leave Orihime Inoue in the fifth tower. If you want to save her, come and get her. She is no longer of any use to me." Orihime juts her chin out defiantly as he stares down at her, with the same 'holier-than-thou' look that Grimmjow had taught her to hate.

"Her abilities are astonishing. Her rejection of phenomena transcends the powers allowed to himan beings. The high officials recognized the significance of her ability early on. That's is why I took her. Her abduction provoked a crises in the Soul Society, prompting them to withdraw to defend the Soul Society and abandon the World of the Living/ I used her as bait to lure the so called Deputy Soul Reaper and his friends to Hueco Mundo. Now they and the four captains who entered Hueco Mundo to help them have been successfully confined, thanks to her."

Orihime's mouth opens in horror as she realizes exactly why she was here, and exactly why he insisted on her calling him Chichi. _A lie. Everything. Every. Single. Thing. Was. A. LIE?!_

"The great thing about the Gotei Thirteen is that all thirteen captains possess the powers of a major fighting force. But now three have seceded and four more are trapped in Hueco Mundo. It's safe to say that the Soul Society's strength has been reduced by half. It was simple, really. Now we will destroy Karakura Town, create the Ouken, and bring down the Soul Society. Once that has been accomplished, we can destroy the rest of you at our leisure." He says in the same easy laidback tone he had used previously with Orihime, as he walks through the Garatana and into the Living World.

"It looks like we made it on time." An unfamiliar voice rumbles, and Orihime cringes at the power laced in it.

"In time? Why do you say that?" Aizen scoffs quietly. " I know that isn't the real Karakura Town. But that won't stop us. Starrk…Barragan…Halibel…come."

Before she can think, Orihime shouts at the top of her lungs as several familiar figure appear above her with Aizen. "Nee-sama! Ggio-nii! Lilynette-chan!" None of them respond, and Orihime's heart sinks.

"Be patient. Inoue." Orihime's eyes lock onto Starrk, who scratches the back of his head lazily, without turning around. "Lilynette's been waitin' for you. Your turn to wait for her." He says before the Garatana's mouth closes behind him.

"Until then, I leave Las Noches in your hands…" Aizen's disembodied voice echoes, as Orihime feels a cold chill run down her spine. "…Ulquiorra."

Whipping around to the sound similar to shattering glass, Orihime watches the dark haired Espada stop out of a fracture in the air, his eyes flicking across the length of the room to finally rest on her.

"Yes, sir."

Staring at him, Orihime swallows tensely, and unconsciously takes a step back.

_Maybe…_

* * *

**O_o**

**Whaddya think? Liked it? Hated it? Loved it? I want to know!**

**ALSO. I haven't mentioned this in a while, but GO READ CATWITHTHEHAT'S COMPANION STORY TO THIS! If you don't already know, it's called 'Doomed to Remember' and is AWESOMENESS INCARNATED! GO I SEND THEE FORTH!**

**But of course, after you leave a REVIEW...right?**

**-moony**


	15. Chapter 15

**It has been far too long...**

**DISCLAIMER: nope**

* * *

Orihime states at the arrancar that seemed to materialize out of thin air, ripping through space as he pulls himself out of the Caja negacion. Her eyes lock onto a shard of space near his hand that breaks off, tumbling to the floor.

A heart... She thinks, mind beginning to reel, as he mouths a word at her. It sounds like a heart breaking...

"Orihime Inoue."

Orihime jumps at the sound of his voice saying her name. The way he says her name. He says her name in the way she used to hear Ichigo say the dark haired girl's name. Like the way you say the name of someone who's reshaped your world

He takes a step closer to her, his expression unreadable, but in his viridian eyes, (Deep, vibrant, pools of liquid emeralds) swirl so many emotions that Orihime's head spins as she tries to identify them all. "Do you…know who I am?"

There's a pregnant silence and Orihime's mind whirls as the brief flashbacks replay in her mind, as well as the letters she had received. Twice she opens her mouth to respond, and twice she finds her tongue too confused to respond.

"Do you recognize my face?"

He took another step towards her, bigger than the one before it. Orihime flinches. It's not his question, or his expression that is making her uneasy, but his tone. Again, it's that of a victim of the art of heart-breaking...and she shudders at the memory of her most hurtful letter she had written in the heat of the moment...

"Do you know my name?"

The dark haired arrancar was still some distance away, but he stopped walking towards her. She sees his eyebrows coming closer by a fraction as her eyes flick from his face to the floor and back again.

"Do you remember me?"

Orihime screws up her courage, and inhales deeply, not breaking eye contact, even though she feels like her heart it beating at a mile a minute. "Your name…" she says hesitantly, choosing her words as delicately as possible. "Your name is…Ulquiorra."

His expression remained unchanged, but the light in his eyes became drastically brighter for an instant. And for that instant, Orihime found herself drowning in their colour.

He nods once, and Orihime takes that as a sign for her to continue. His eyes not waver from her's.

"You…you were the one who wrote me those letters," she adds, recalling the one about the rose. Always the rose. Because who was given roses on wedding days? Who's lips were compared to roses? Princesses. Hime.

Once again, she gets a nod in response. She blinks once, and a feeling of bliss fills her body for some unknown reason, her eyes tracing his face-from his sculpted cheekbones, to his reflectively sorrowful estigma.

"You…you are the fourth Espada," She continues, the words spilling from her mouth on their own accord. "Not Grimmjow-nii's Fracción…"

Ulquiorra shakes his head slowly.

Remembering her present from the time in the lab, she smiles cautiously. "…Thank you for the red bean paste. And Enraku. I really missed him. And the jacket. But, eto, I suppose I should be thanking your friend for it. Mure-chan?"

"Onna."

Orihime jumps, as he interrupts her though, and to her horror, she realizes she was babbling.

"You don't remember me." he states bluntly.

Orihime's eyes lock onto the floor as shame fills her. "…No," she admits, cringing. She wrings hands. "No, I'm not."

"Onna, are you afraid?"

Her eyes flick to his, and she stares at the fourth Espada.

"Lord Aizen doesn't need you anymore," he says, taking a step closer. "There is nothing protecting you now. You could die here…alone, with no one by your side. I want to know if that frightens you."

She doesn't break his gaze as he walks forwards, his boots clicking on the floor. Only a few feet separated them now.

Orihime internally debates what she should say, when she recalls the content of one of the very first letters she received. "I'm not afraid," she finally says. "I don't believe you would kill me."

"…You don't know that for sure," Ulquiorra notes softly, voice neutral. "I could do it. I could tear open this chest of yours, I could tear open your skull."

"You will not," she says with as much conviction as possible, but even to herself she sounds unsure. "I don't think you could do that."

"What makes you believe that?" he asks quietly. "All the memories of me that you have? All the knowledge of me that you have gained?"

"I read your letters," she reminds him, the obvious fact irking her slightly, but another part of her beats the feeling down violently, not wanting to cause the bliss to dissipate.

"Orihime," he says, and suddenly there's a shift. "You…you know nothing about me."

He whirls around, tail coat billowing out behind him as he walks away from her. He pivots suddenly to ace her again. "You have no idea," he says. His voice is slightly louder, but still neutral. "You have no idea what I've had to deal with since you've left me." Yanking a hand from his pocket, he holds it out, palm up, curling his fingers inwards, as of he was holding something. "Do you see this?" he asked her. Orihime's gaze travels from his face-tracing the viridian tears spilling from his eyes-down his arm, and to the hand clutching at air. "This, in my hand. The heart you gave me." he says, moving closer.

"You may not have noticed it was gone. The empty cavity in your chest may have stilled without your note. But I have held it here these long weeks. Waiting until the day when I could return it to its rightful place."

One step led to another, and before she could register it, they were standing chest to chest. He lifts her hand and turns her palm up, fingers as gentle as if her were handling something as fragile as glass . "This, another thing you may not have known," he continues. "You have held my heart. And while you may not have noticed yours' absence, I noticed mine. I miss that feeling of life and love. While you have held my heart, Onna, holding it so innocently, so obliviously, it has been trampled. It has been kicked, stomped on. Mistreated. Not by you. By Nnoitra. By Loly and Menoly. By Szayelaporro, by Grimmjow, by Anómino and Ggio. Most of all, though, my heart has been mistreated by Aizen. Look at it, look at your hand. Don't you see how it shudders and thumps so unevenly? Look into my eyes now. Do you think my heart needs to be fixed, Orihime?"

The human girl bites her lip, recalling the memory of the last letter she never gave him, written before all this had happened. 'Forever'. She nods.

He raises a hand to her cheek, caressing her jaw with his thumb. He inhales deeply, and again, she feels like she is drowning in the deep colour of his eyes. "Will you help me?" he asks softly. "Will you help me heal my heart?"

Orihime feels her head bob on its own accord, and her eyes began to flutter closed. She feels his hand ghost across the skin of her chin, teasing it upwards before a light pressure lights across her lip, and leaves her in ecstasy.

BOOM

A strangled cry escapes Orihime's lips as the explosion and sudden rush of rieatsu engulfs the area. Orihime feels Ulquiorra leap away from her, an shortly after, the familiar ring of a sword being drawn. When the dust dies down, Orihime's eyes widen as she takes in the intruder. "Kurosaki-kun!"

"Step away from Orihime." He says in a low and powerful voice, killing intent and determination rolling off of him in waves.

"I intended to." Ulquiorra's eyes harden and his face becomes completely stoic again. "My duty is to guard Las Noches until Lord Aizen returns. I wasn't ordered to kill the girl. I'll let her live until otherwise ordered. But not you. Protecting Las Noches means killing you. I'll cut you down right now." He says, drawing his zanpakuto.

"I'm surprised," Ichigo comments, a small grin causing the corners of his mouth to twitch upwards slightly. "I didn't think you'd draw your sword so easily. I thought I'd have to make you draw it. Does this mean you recognize me as an equal?"

Ulquiorra frowns slightly, and Orihime can't help but notice how his eyes flick from him to her, almost too quickly for her to notice. "It means I recognize you as someone who must be destroyed."

"Works for me."

One step led to another, and before she could register it, they were standing chest to chest. He lifts her hand and turns her palm up, fingers as gentle as if her were handling something as fragile as glass . "This, another thing you may not have known," he continues. "You have held my heart. And while you may not have noticed yours' absence, I noticed mine. I miss that feeling of life and love. While you have held my heart, Onna, holding it so innocently, so obliviously, it has been trampled. It has been kicked, stomped on. Mistreated. Not by you. By Nnoitra. By Loly and Menoly. By Szayelaporro, by Grimmjow, by Anómino and Ggio. Most of all, though, my heart has been mistreated by Aizen. Look at it, look at your hand. Don't you see how it shudders and thumps so unevenly? Look into my eyes now. Do you think my heart needs to be fixed, Orihime?"

The human girl bites her lip, recalling the memory of the last letter she never gave him, written before all this had happened. 'Forever'. She nods.

He raises a hand to her cheek, caressing her jaw with his thumb. He inhales deeply, and again, she feels like she is drowning in the deep colour of his eyes. "Will you help me?" he asks softly. "Will you help me heal my heart?"

Orihime feels her head bob on its own accord, and her eyes began to flutter closed. She feels his hand ghost across the skin of her chin, teasing it upwards before a light pressure lights across her lip, and leaves her in ecstasy.

BOOM

A strangled cry escapes Orihime's lips as the explosion and sudden rush of rieatsu engulfs the area. Orihime feels Ulquiorra leap away from her, an shortly after, the familiar ring of a sword being drawn. When the dust dies down, Orihime's eyes widen as she takes in the intruder. "Kurosaki-kun!"

"Get away from her." he snarls dangerously, eyes narrowed angrily. "Get away from her, and stay away from her, because I've got a bone to pick with you Ulquiorra, and not just because you've targeted my nakama anymore."

Ulquiorra's eyes harden and his face becomes completely stoic again. "What ever could you mean? A bone to pick you say? So be it. Your eradication coincides with my orders either way." he says, drawing his zanpakuto.

"Keh. I didn't think you'd draw your sword from the get-go." Ichigo comments, a small grin causing the corners of his mouth to twitch upwards slightly. "Is it safe to say you finally recognize me as an opponent?"

Ulquiorra frowns slightly, and Orihime can't help but notice how his eyes flick from him to her, almost too quickly for her to notice. "I recognize you are an opponent that must be destroyed."

"Works for me,"

:-:-:-:-:

Orihime bites down onto her tongue to stop herself from crying out. She spaces out for a moment, and turns instead inwards to the battling emotions inside her. On one hand, she feels a strong feeling of distress as a member of her nakama was fighting for her life, and she's doing nothing to help him, but on the other hand, she feels an unbearable…something causing her to choke. To feel weak in the knees. And she has no idea why, but all she knows is that if something happens to him, she just might vomit.

However, she doesn't flinch as the eerily lit green cero blasts through the room. Ulquiorra stares at Ichigo with a touch of grudging respect in his eyes. Or...perhaps she was imagining it "I see," he said, "So you can withstand my Cero even without your mask. You've gotten stronger. Is it because you defeated Grimmjow? Or…is it because of her?"

Ichigo glares at him with a steely determination as he wipes his mouth with his hands, not responding, even as Ulquiorra's hand points at her in an accusing manner.

Ulquiorra seems to be antagonizing him, but Orihime can't tell for sure. His stoic expression betrays nothing. "Or maybe because of your friends fighting down below?"

Blinking, Orihime automatically reaches outward with her mind, and with a jolt identifies four rieatsu signatures. Three are fighting together at the base of the tower, and the fourth is somewhere below them. One of them is the same one she had felt vanish earlier, and a wave of relief sweeps through her. "Rukia-chan!" she breathed. However, shortly after a wave of bitterness washes over her. Rukia-chan. The dark haired girl, whose name is uttered by Ichigo the same way _he _murmurs her.

"I? More human?"

Ulquiorra's outraged demand jerks her back into the present, and she sees the arrancar and shinigami standing across from each other.

"I see. So you're actually feeling good about being able to fight at this level?" he demanded, and then leapt into the air. Faster than her eyes can follow, the two leap together and apart again, the ringing of metal, or shattering stone the only indication of parried or dodged blows.

A strangled cry escapes Orihime as she sees Ulquiorra's sword swinging downward into a deadly arc towards Ichigo's neck. Instinctively, her arms fly upwards, a second after, her trusty golden shield materializing in between them. Both of the combatant's eyes are wide with disbelief as they whirl around to stare at her. Even as the shield cracks, then shatters they do not move, and Orihime's resolve wavers for a moment.

Orihime bites down onto her tongue to stop herself from crying out. She spaces out for a moment, and turns instead inwards to the battling emotions inside her. On one hand, she feels a strong feeling of distress as a member of her nakama was fighting for her life, and she's doing nothing to help him, but on the other hand, she feels an unbearable…something causing her to choke. To feel weak in the knees. And she has no idea why, but all she knows is that if something happens to him, she just might vomit.

Jolting back to reality thanks to an exceptionally loud ring of metal, and she looks up in time to see Ulquiorra leaping into the air, his posture screaming 'final blow'. A strangled cry escapes Orihime as she sees Ulquiorra's sword swinging downward into a deadly arc towards Ichigo's neck. Instinctively, her arms fly upwards, a second after, her trusty golden shield materializing in between them. Both of the combatant's eyes are wide with disbelief as they whirl around to stare at her. Even as the shield cracks, then shatters they do not move, and Orihime's resolve wavers for a moment.

"What are you doing?"

Orihime blinks in confusion, her eyebrows knitting together as Ulquiorra's accusing gaze rakes across her. "…What?" She asks.

"I'm asking you why you helped him." He says, and Orihime looks down at the floor as shame ripples through her body.

Orihime opens her mouth to protest, but no sound comes from her. "…I...why?"

Orihime struggles not to cower under his gaze as he continues pressing for answers. "Because he's your friend? then why didn't you protect him from the first blow? Why did you hesitate?"

"I…I don't…" She continues struggling to form words. Why didn't she? Why _did_ she? Ichigo was a fighter, he didn't need her. Not like that. That was someone else's job, wasn't it. Obligation? No. It was because…because…

You don't forget

"Shut up." Ichigo says, irritation quite clear in his voice "I don't need to hear you go on about hesitation or whatever, none of that matters." He meets her gaze and Orihime smiles weakly as she sees the barely disguised hurt in his eyes. "Thank you for protecting me Inoue. But it's dangerous, so stay back."

Looking down at the floor, then back up to him she feels the uncertainty that seems to be constantly rippling through her body as of late rear its' head again. "Kurosaki-kun…"

Ichigo returns his attention to the stoic Espada, "Ulquiorra. You're pretty chatty today. I'm surprised. I though you were more of the silent type." Lowering his center of gravity, the trademark red and black reiatsu swirls around Zangetsu. Ulquiorra looks on with an unimpressed look on his face.

"Getsuga, eh? Don't you realize yet that doesn't work on me?"

Orihime watches as Ichigo leaps forwards, the Getsuga Tensho still wrapped around his zanpakuto, adding that much more force to his blow. The resulting explosion rips through the air, and Orihime's ears ring slightly. Unable to do anything else, she simply dons her mask of calm as best as she can as they continue to fight.

Behind her, a soft 'shk' noise causes her to flinch and look down…revealing two pairs of hands reaching out to grab her.

Without any time to even scream, they grab her, and yank her backwards, a hand clasped tightly to her mouth.

"Gotcha." Snarls the dark haired arrancar whose harassed her since the first time she's seen her. "Remember me? Maybe you don't. Why should a monster like you, remember an ordinary person like me?" Loly giggles, and with growing horror, Orihime registers insanity in her voice. "But, your time on the top is over. Aizen-sama told me, you're no longer of any use to him. Do you know what that means?" Her grip around Orihime's mouth tightens, her fingernails digging into the flesh of her face, and even though Orihime tries to writhe free their grip is like iron. "I can do whatever I want with you now, without fear of Aizen-sama's wrath."

Tossing her head backwards, Orihime grunts and bites down on Loly's hand as hard as she can, but the arrancar just smile sadistically at her. "You're finished." She whispers venomously into her ear. "I'm going to take back everything you took from me!" and with that, she grabs her sleeve and tears the fabric away, and before she can run, Melony punches her to the ground.

"Let. Me. Go!" Orihime bites out, and tries to aim a kick at her legs, but she dances out of the way, and Loly grabs her head.

"Inoue!"

Fingers clutching her cheek, Orihime feels herself being shoved forwards as Loly hisses angrily, "Stay back!, or I'll pluck out her eyeball!"

Ichigo raises his sword, and black spiritual pressure swirls around it, "Getsuga…!"

There is a flash of white and Orihime's eyes widen as she sees the white back that is facing her, and surprise choruses through her body. It's evident that Loly feels this way as well, as her grip slackens considerably. "Ulquiorra…?" She says hesitantly.

"Don't get the wrong idea," He says in the same monotone that he has been using for the whole fight, but there is a small undertone of disgust in his voice that Orihime can somehow detect. "I'm not helping you."

Ichigo's face contorts with rage, "Outta my way!" He snarls angrily.

Ulquiorra returns his attention to the shinigami, a bored and unimpressed look on his face. "Make me," he says, "If you want to fight anyone else, you'll have to kill me first."

_'Kill me'_

Orihime barely registers the crumbling floor and shocked faces at surround her as a new arrancar appears out of nowhere.

_'Kill me'_

Legs giving out from underneath her, Orihime feels herself begin to hyperventilate. "No. No, no, no, no, no…!" She whimpers frantically. No. NO! He can't. He won't! He's strong enough, he won't di-

Her train of though is cut off as she feels herself being dumped on the floor. Gasping for breath, she looks up to see Loly standing in front of her with a small dagger drawn that is dripping with blood. A panicked and desperate look must be on her face, judging by how she shakes, and her anxious breaths.

"Inoue!"

Turning towards his voice, she sees the two rivals together, blades locked in battle as Loly shrieks, "Poison, Escolopendra!"

Getting knocked back by the ensuing release, Orihime's head smashes against the floor and she see's stars for a moment. Shaking her head to clear is as quickly as possible, she looks up in time to see Yammy dropping Loly down out of the hole had had punched through the wall using her body. "Wai-!" She burst out, but then clamps her mouth shut as Yammy gives her a disapproving look.

"You say something?" the big man asks, and as Orihime searches his face, her heart sinks as she sees no sign of the 'Yammy-nii' who let her braid his hair, or play with Pero, or walk her back to her quarters. "Hey Ulquiorra, can I kill her now?"

Orihime's eyes flick to Ichigo's and she sees desperation and panic in them as Yammy readies his zanpakuto. "Wait!" An instant later, Yammy pitches forwards, an arrow in the back of his shoulder. Orihime scuttles away as quickly as possible, and stumbles over to a fallen pillar. "Ishida!" Ichigo shouts as the Quincy lights down onto the floor.

"Where did you come from?!"Yammy demands, whirling onto him.

Uryu straightens his glasses and brushes some dust off of his clothes. "That much force and it still didn't pierce you?" He says nonchalantly, "You're pretty tough…but I'd watch where I'm stepping if I were you."

As if on cue, the ground around the arrancar explodes violently, the air making Orihime's hair whip around her. Covering her head with her arms, she winches as scatter debris falls on her.

"Damnit…you little brat!" Yammy's disembodied voice wheezes from somewhere in front of the Quincy. Seeing a hand gripping the edge of the floor, Orihime realizes with a jolt that he is still hanging for life by the tips of his fingers.

"I could hear you down below," He comments, and Orihime knows that with his values, Uryu is appalled by the way Yammy treats his opponents. "You're the 'Yammy' Szayelapporo told me about aren't you?"

"So what if I am?" Yammy's infuriated answer echoes through the room.

" Too bad for you. If I hadn't shown up, you would have gotten to fight a little longer." He says, with false apology as the floor breaks away, sending Yammy crashing down to the ground. "Mala suerte," he continues, even as his enraged scream fades as he continues to fall, "I pity you. I broke all the pillars on every floor on the way up, so you'll probably fall all the way to the bottom." He then turns away from the hole and walks towards Ichigo and Ulquiorra.

"…Ishida?" Ichigo asks, as Orihime looks on from her place at the side.

"What?" he asks, "Questions during battle? Seems reckless to me. What do you want to ask? Kurotsuchi Mayuri healed me. He healed Abarai first, which is what took me so long. He's the one who gave me the mine too. If an Arrancar comes within its spirit energy sensors, it will explode. I hid it in the ceiling of the level below us. Any other questions?" Uryu adds after finishing his explanation.

Grinning, Ichigo seems to relax slightly. "I never had any in the first place, you're the one who wouldn't shut up…what a pain." Blinking another of Orihime's 'lost' memories flickers into the forefront of her mind, of the two of them sitting together at lunch for the first time. "Take care of Inoue." He says, turning back to face Ulquiorra. "If her Rikka can't shield her from my energy, protect her with your own body."

Glancing at Ulquiorra, Orihime sees an irked look flicker through his eyes, just as her own mild indignation does. _I may not be able to protect myself all the time…but I _can_ withstand reiatsu. I'm not weak like that_.

"I would even if you hadn't asked."

"…Sorry to keep you waiting, Ulquiorra," Ichigo says, returning his full attention to the Arrancar. "Here I go. The Hollowfication you wanted to see." His hands curl in a claw like manner, just before her tears them down through the air in front of his face, as the white and red mask adorns his face once again. The lines seem to be thicker and angrier in colour than the fight with Grimmjow, and judging by the way he throws himself at the Cuatro Espada, and the Espada's stunned expression, he is stronger as well.

Ulquiorra flips through the air, and blasts through the wall. Eyes barely able to follow their movements, Orihime watches as he fires a cero at him before leaping upwards into the sky, with the shinigami in hot persuit.

Hesitantly, and with growing dread filling her chest, Orihime watches the two become tiny specks in the sky. There is a small dust explosion at the top of the canopy, and with a sudden wave of horror, she realizes what Ulquiorra is planning to do.

_'Kill me first'_

Biting on the inside of her cheek, she looks at Uryu out of the corner of her eye. She knows what she needs to do. But the real reason why isn't going make the Quincy happy….

_'Kill me first'_

* * *

**Alright. So, I would give you an explaination on why it took so insultingly long to get this out but 1: I don't even know if people remember this story anymore, and 2: It will take an excessively long time to explain. Let us just say that life has decided to be a snake, and the lack of updates is the result -.-" **

**Also exams are coming up for me next week (JOY. NOT) and I am already feeling the stress of final projects and exams. Life is sucking quite a bit for me at the moment. So if I vanish again, I sincerely apoligize...**

**anyways, hoped you liked that chapter, and don't forget to review!**

**-moony**


	16. Chapter 16

**-watches warily as tumbleweed rolls past-  
um...hi...Well then...this was long overdue...I suppose I owe anyone who was looking for this chapter and didn't see it until now...well...let's just say that the will to write had vanished for a fairly long time. My deepest apologies TT_TT.**

**On another note, this is the final official chapter of "Cursed to Forget" the sister story to TheCatWithTheHat's "Doomed to Remember" It was an awesome experience writing this, and I can definitely say that this was an awesome experience, learning and collabing wise too. Thanks to everyone whose been reading/following/reviewing this story, I really appreciate it :) **

**and now, ONWARDS!**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

"There's a hole in the sky…" the Quincy remarks in muted awe, staring upwards at the small hole revealing the dark outside of Hueco Mundo, "That sky was really a fake then."

Orihime studies his face out of the corner of her eye, as vague memories of him run through her mind. Him telling a brash looking man to take her and run. Of him repairing a lion shaped doll.

"Inoue-san." He says, but then doesn't complete his thought, despite the unfinished words shining clearly in his eyes. Orihime feels the same irritation from before rise up in her again. _He is withholding information because he thinks I am too fragile._ Uryu looks into her eyes and gives her a small smile. "It's okay. Kurosaki will win." He assures her, and she gives her own small (fake) smile. His gaze returns to the sky, when Orihime feels the whole tower begin to shake violently, and Orihime's eyes widen as she recognizes the power that can only belong to that cero Grimmjow had told her about once-Cero Oscuras.

"Ishida-san. Would you be able to carry me to the top of the dome with your power?" Orihime asks quietly, turning her gaze onto the Quincy, and steeling her resolve.

He stares at her without saying a word, indecision clouding his eyes. "Please." She adds, and with a sigh he relents. Looking out the hole in the wall, Orihime watches a platform of reshi form in midair. He steps onto it and offers a hand to her, which she takes before stepping on beside him. When she firmly plants her feet onto the platform, they begin rising upwards, gaining speed as they ascend.

Orihime watches the ground become farther and farther away, "This is pretty cool." She comments, before an awkward silence can descend onto them.

Uryu nods, "I remembered it when we were passing through the Garganta. I realized on the way here I could use it in Hueco Mundo as well." He explains.

Orihime nods thoughtfully, "It would be pretty useful in battle, ne? I mean, if your opponent wasn't on solid ground and you could use that-!" Her sentence is cut short when a massive wave of dense, black reiatsu envelops them, showering down from the hole above them.

"W-what the?! It came from above the dome?!" Uryu stares upwards in shock, "What is this? Is it reiatsu?" he murmurs to himself.

Orihime doesn't acknowledge him. The sheer weight and power of the reiatsu won't let her think of anything else. _It rivals Halibel-neechan…no, maybe even Starrk-niisan's power!_ She thinks in horror, as they continue to rise. _How? How is that possible?!_

When they make it to the top of the dome, Orihime leaps of the reshi platform, immediately running the moment her feet touch the ground. Behind her, she can hear the Quincy's frustration as he searches for the strawberry, but the man with viridian eyes is the only person on her mind.

Orihime legs freeze suddenly, and she comes to a grinding halt at the foot of a tall pillar, the moon hanging ominously in the background. At its top stands Ulquiorra, fur covering him from the waist down, and wings, (glorious, darker than black, obsidian wings) sprouting from his shoulder blades. _He looks like an angel…._

Her eyes follow the lithe tail sprouting from his behind, and up to where it strangles the man who had come to rescue her. "K-Kurosaki...kun?" She breathes.

Despite the great distance between them, Orihime clearly sees the cuatro's viridian eyes lock onto her own. "You're here, woman," He murmers, his gaze quickly flicking back upwards to the fallen shinigami. "You're just in time. Watch closely." he says in a completely bored and neutral tone, "The man you pinned all your hopes on is about to die.

"Cero."

"NO!"

**_BOOM_**

The smoke cloud that exploded just as the cero fired clears, revealing Ulquiorra standing alone at the top of the tower, his arm still raised, but the end of his tail cut off. Orihime intakes several shuddering breaths, and in her peripheral vision, she sees Uryu glancing around frantically as he tries to locate the shinigami.

Orihime sweeps her gaze around her, and cries out in relief as she spots a mop of orange hair to her right. "Kurosaki-kun!" She dashes towards him, but stops dead in her tracks as a figure sonido's in front of him. Her mouth opens in disbelief, "Anónimo-chan?!" Orihime says in shock, as the young arrancar stares back at her blankly. After getting over her initial shock of her reappearance, Orihime's eyes immediately snap to the dark blood stains on her usually spotless uniform, and face. "What happened to you?"

"I was following Barragan-sama's orders. Just as I do now," Blue eyes that are impossibly cold bore into warm gray ones. Almost as if she's in a daze, her thin fingers wipe at a disturbingly fresh splatter of blood on her cheek. Holding her hand in front of her face, Orihime too feels a disturbing curiosity as the young arrancar stares at her blood stained fingers. "So curious. How the dead can bleed…It's funny. It's been so long since I've seen blood. I forgot how red it was. It's scent-"

Orihime grabs her wrist, pulling it down, and forcing the sextagesima-sexta arrancar to look at her. "Anó-chan. What's going on? That's not like you." She snaps, trying desperately to keep her voice under control.

"'Anó-chan'? Inoue-san, what's going on?" Uryu asks from behind her in a guarded voice, "Who is she? What do you mean '-chan'?"

"Vanish, Recuerdos Perdidos."

Orihime stares, torn between surprise and awe as she sees Anónimo's released state for the first time. Her attire does not change at all, but instead of behind held, her zanpakuto has now become a bracer, the blade extending from the underside of her wrist. Her circlet mask fragment has expanded, a single light blue jewel resting in the center of it. But the most noticible, and disturbing part of her release are the two tentacles that hang from the sides of her head, almost like two thick pigtails. They move slowly and hypnotically, unnaturally pale and with almost translucent suction cups at their ends. Orihime opens her mouth to say something when they suddenly lash outward, knocking her flat on her back.

"Inoue-san!" Ishida shouts from behind her, catching her before she completely falls. Clutching her stomach, the human girl fights to lift her head up, the wind knocked completely out of her. She watches as the arrancar whirls around and the tentacles latch onto Ichigo's head.

The previously unconscious shinigami wakes up with a scream, hands immidiatly going to claw at the tentacles suctioned to his head. Uryu fires an arrow at Anónimo, who easily deflects it away. "What are you doing?!" He demands angrily, drawing another arrow. Anónimo ignores him.

"Anó…chan?" Orihime chokes out as the girl she once called her 'little sister' stares emotionlessly at Ichigo's body writhing on the ground.

"Forget your mission. Forget her. Forget your reason, your logic. Forget it all, and unleash the instinctive beast within you." She murmurs, her ice blue reiatsu flaring around her. The tentacles suction-cupped to the sides of Ichigo's head remain there despite his desperate attempts to claw them off. The sextagesima-sexta arrancar stretches out a hand towards his face.

Eyes wide in confusion and animalistic fear, Ichigo weakly glares up at her, his eyes torn between chocolate brown and a cold gold colour. "What…the hell..are you doing to me?" coughs out before letting loose a howl of agony as her fingertips touch his forehead.

Struggling to her feet, Orihime shouts as loud as she can, trying her best to be heard over the substitute shinigami's screams. "Anónimo-chan, onegai, stop!" Breaking into a run, Orihime reaches out to her, but before she can reach her, another burst of reiatsu knocks her off her feet, followed by an unearthly wail that she's only heard one other time in her life.

_"Nii-san!"_

Slowly allowing her gaze upwards Orihime licks her lip uneasily as she takes in the pale skin, taloned feet, and a gaping hole straight though a chest, flanked by snaking, blood red tattoos and long orange hair. A skeletal mask flanked by two spear like horns, and the same blood red tattoes markings wrapping around the skull. "What?" she breathed.

"This…can't be," the Cuatro murmurs. "You can't be alive. What is that form? Who are you?" Ulquiorra stares at Ichigo in suspicious disbelief.

"Kill him. Serve me." Anónimo hisses dangerously, and Orihime can't even see any trace of the shy, uncertain girl whom had come to be her little sister in her. Ichigo's head slowly turns to face Ulquiorra, remaining completely silent.

"Can't you hear me?" Ulquiorra asks, "I am asking you who you are."

That's when Ichigo opens his mouth and lets out an unearthly wail, causing Orihime and Uryu to clap their hands over their ears as it rips through the air.

"It seems…you can't understand what I'm saying," The other arrancar says monotonously. Orihime watches as a Cero begins to form at his fingertips, and just as he is about release the ball of energy, Ichigo lurches forwards, a great red ball of energy forming between the two horns of his mask. Almost simultaneously, the two beams are released and collide, causing an enormous explosion. Shrieking as she is blown backwards, Orihime is vaguely aware of Uryu's arms grabing her protectively.

Orihime lies on the ground in a daze, the world around her spinning and the sound of ringing metal echoing through her ears. When she finally composes herself she sees Ulquiorra throw a green lance at Ichigo, who easily dodges it. To their left stands Anónimo watching stoically.

"Anónimo-chan, stop this! Why are you doing this?!"

"Because this is all I am, Orihime." Anónimo says flatly, and Orihime flinches as she notices how she omits the honorific she had insisted on using up until now. "Did you know that even us Numeros each bear an aspect of death?" She asks quietly as the fight between Arrancar and shinigami turned beast continues, and intensifies. "Like Loly, Minho and Tesra. Envy, Vengance and Disobedience. My aspect of death? It is the void. Forgotteness. The loss of rational." She says, just as Ichigo slices Ulquiorra in half, throwing his upper body on the ground.

"Damnit…I can't believe I lost," Ulquiorra grumbles, "To a human turned hollow. How…comical."

Orihime watches in horror as Ichigo slams his taloned foot down onto his head, a cero forming again, and this time, only meer inches from the arrancar's face. "I see," Ulquiorra says, "No mercy, eh? How very Hollow-like." His viridian eyes move from Ichigo to Orihime. "Go ahead. My life has no meaning now that I've lost to you."

Horror closing up her throat, Orihime opens her mouth in a silent scream.

_"Do it." _

Her world exploded.

:-:-:-:-:

Silently thanking Grimmjow for training her mercilessly to summon her fairies instantly, Orihime looks up at massive smoke cloud through the golden tint of her Saten Kishun. Frantically, she searches for any sign of Ulquiorra. When the sky finally clears, the hollow that used to be Kurosaki Ichigo stands in the air with his back facing them. A soft and strangled cry rips through Orihime's throat as she realizes what the dark mass hanging from his hand is.

It's Ulquiorra.

Uryu stares up as well in disbelief. "Kurosaki…"

"Finish him." Anónimo whispers, extending a pale finger she points at the fallen Espada, "And when you are finished with him," her finger slowly moves to point at Orihime and Uryu. "Kill them."

The hollow slowly walks over to where Ulquiorra's body lies, and with a soft '_swsh_' noise points the tip of its blade at the base of his prey's neck. Orihime hears Uryu grit his teeth from beside her before standing and running over to the two of them. _Get up, get up!_ Orihime thinks to herself, but the only thing she can register is that his body has been utterly destroyed beyond repair, and the utter numbness that is enveloping her body.

Uryu grabs his wrist before he can plunge his sword into his body. "Kurosaki, enough!" He shouts, and Orihime can see his hand start to shake and strain as he tries to control Ichigo's arm. "Don't you hear me? Stop! I can't believe that that arrancar wiped away your whole being! Listen to me Ichigo!" Uryu's voice increases in volume as desperation and frustration begin to fill it, "If you do this, you really won't be human anymore!"

"Kill him."

Anónimo's quiet order finally snaps Orihime out of her inability to move. Her head snaps towards where Uryu is standing, just in time for her to watch as Ichigo impales him with Zangetsu.

"No!" She screams, scrambling to her feet and standing between them. She inhales sharply as Ichigo's head rises and the dark eyeholes seem to meet her own.

**"Don't…want…"**

Orihime's eyebrows shoot up in surprise, and judging by the quiet gasp from Anónimo, this is something completely unexpected to her too.

**"…Don't want…hurt them…Don't want…"** The guttural voice that comes from the beast-Ichigo's-mouth sounds incredibly conflicted and strained.

Struggling to get the words out, it finally manages to slowly complete its sentence. **"Don't want, to hurt…them." **

Behind him, Anónimo's eyes flash dangerously, and with a choked wail he pitches forwards, the red cero again forming between his horns. "Kill them!" She screams, and in the eerie red light of the cero, Orihime swears she sees tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Kurosaki-kun, wait!"

Suddenly a black blur appeared behind the female arrancar, a green lance of light clutched in his hand. Ulquiorra viciously stabs Anónimo in the back, the lance's length causing it to pierce all the way through her body, and out her chest. At the same time, Ichigo's charged up cero seems to implode on itself, a small explosion engulfing his face.

Attention torn between the two of them, Orihime decides to let her gaze fall onto her dying 'little sister'. Without really knowing herself, as she walks over to the dying arrancar, who has fallen onto the ground, tears begin to stream down her face.

Squatting down to touch the other girl's cheek, the pale blue orb in Anónimo's circlet pops out of its holder, and rolls to Orihime's feet. Cautiously, she reaches down to pick it up. But when her fingers brush against it, Orihime gasps as a burst of emotions, colours and sounds rip through her mind.

_Instead of figuring out the answer to that question, you look down at your hands. "If you love someone, you want the best for them. You want them to succeed. You always want to be with them. You try to protect them and you would sacrifice anything for them. At least, that's what I've felt from my experience." You finish of the list in a sheepish voice, the image of an orange haired person, dressed in black coming to the forefront of your mind._

_"I see. So, if all four of these urges were present, would that mean love was present?" he asks, as if he is making sure he is hearing things right._

_"Well, yes, I suppose. Why are you asking?"_

_"I see. Well then, Onna, I think it would be appropriate to say that I am in this 'love' with you."_

_Heat envelopes your face, as a pale white hand reaches out and lightly grasps your jaw, pulling you towards his face. Your eyes are wide with shock, but also with something akin to happiness, as he brings you even closer towards him._

_"I hope I am doing the right thing. I do not know about all of these things yet. If I am doing something wrong, stop me."_

_That's when your lips meet, and that emotion that was lying in your gut explodes through your body, just as its name registers in your mind. _Love.

:-:-:-:-:

_But, talking to you _, it makes me feel safe. I feel like, like I just drank a whole mug of hot chocolate full of melted marshmallows with wasabi and soy sause drizzled on top! That's how you make me feel :3 I love drinking hot chocolate like that, it's the best way to drink it, don't you agree? Anyways, I hope that you're doing okay where ever you are _. I really miss you! Write back to me as soon as you can, okay?_

_\(^3^)/_

_-Inoue Orihime_

"_I will always fight for you. I will fight for you to be by my side. To watch the sunrise together, like how we did before. Wake up. Please, wake up Inoue Orihime. I don't know what I will do without you…"_

Gasping, Orihime falls forwards onto her hands, her mind whirling as she realizes who exactly she had been writing to the whole time, who had made her that promise the dark night when she had almost lost her mind. Slowly, she stands up and turns around.

The scene in front of her makes her heart sink. Ichigo and Uryu are there, the former somehow unhurt, the latter worse for wear, but her eyes are only for Ulquiorra. He stands, body half regenerated, resurrection dispelled, and whose eyes, whose deep, vibrant green eyes, are just barely masking hurt, pain and hopelessness.

Slowly, he reaches out towards her, almost hesitantly. "Are you afraid of me, onna?" he asks softly. Her eyes widen in shock as she realizes that the particles in the air aren't dust. They're ash. _He is dying._

Orihime opens her mouth to say something, when her emotion filter shatters, and she starts bawling like a baby. "Ulquiorra!" She screams, running forwards, tears streaming down her face. She ignores the utter shock that radiates off the three men watching her, she just runs towards the man she know, _remembers_ she loves with every single fibre of her being. As she passes by the Zanpakuto that stick out of the ground, she yanks it out, bringing it along with her.

"Orihime?"

"Onna, what?"

**Shk.**

Arrancar, Quincy and Shinigami all stare in surprise and varying degress of horror at the zanpakuto that Orihime has thrust into Ulquiorra's chest. "You have to remember! Please! Please promise me you won't forget." Orihime pleads her arms wrapped tightly around Ulquiorra's neck, her tears running from her eyes, to her cheeks and down his chest. "I'm sorry! I'm so, so, so sorry! I swear, I won't forget you again! Not now, not ever!" She cries pulling away from him, just enough so that she can look into his eyes.

"You remember me?"

Orihime nods frantically, sniffling and hiccupping. "I do. I do. Wait for me, okay? Wait for me in the Soul Society, promise me, okay?" She whispers, licking her lips and pressing her forehead against his.

"The Soul Society is a big place."

Tightening her grip on him, she pulls him as close as she can to her body, not caring that Zangetsu's hilt is digging into her stomach. "I'll find you. No matter how long it takes, I'll find you." She vows fiercely through her tears, "I won't give up on you, just like how you didn't give up on me." Orihime licks her lips. "So promise me. That you'll wait."

"I promise."

Orihime smiles weakly, and presses her lips against his own in one last sweet kiss before his ash blows away on the wind, and his soul is sent off to the Soul Society.

_I promise. And I will never forget my promise to you…_

* * *

**So what do you think? Send over a review!**

**See you at the epilogue :)**


	17. Epilogue

It's been five months, two weeks and six days since she watched helplessly as he turned into ash. She would know. She's been counting. Each day she marks off every six hours she spends scouring the Rungokai, asking about a pale, dark-haired man, 5"6 tall. And his most distinctive feature? Bright viridian eyes.

Yawning as discreetly as possible, Orihime looks out the window, and rests her cheek against her hand. If it were up to her, she'd ditch class more often to search for him, but a certain pint-sized shinigami refuses to open a senkaimon for her unless she attends at least four full days of school. Smiling to herself, she finally gains at least a partial understanding of Ichigo's previous indignation towards her.

Kurosaki-kun… She thinks as her gaze wanders over to where the strawberry sits, scribbling down notes as their sensei lectures them. She breathes through her teeth. No. She will not think about his reaction after he blew away. She will not recall the hurt and betrayal that was quickly hidden after she told him what had happen while she had been in Las Noches. She will not remember how the piece of her heart that once belonged to him wilted. Her heart belongs, and will forever belong to someone else.

She promised him.

* * *

"What do you mean we're not going to District 25 to search?!" Orihime demands, utterly shocked at the sudden and uncharacteristic change of plans made by the Kuchiki noble. Yelping as the newly appointed vice captain pulls her half of her hair up into a bun to match the other on the other side. Rukia just grins at her in the mirror, winking cheekily.

"Come on Orihime, you should enjoy yourself a little more. What happened to that carefree, optimistic girl who used to make us red bean paste and wasabi onigiri?" She teases, pinning a butterfly hairpin into her hair.

"She grew up."

Rukia's grin quickly vanishes and Orihime ducks her head in shame. "Gomen ne. That was rude." She apoligizes quietly, staring at the floor.

There's a prolonged scilence, and Orihime unconsciously flinches in anticipation of the rebuking hit she's certain she'll be receiving. But instead a hand just pats her hair, ruffling it violently. Blinking in surprise she looks up at Rukia who has a sympathetic look on her face. "Just because you grow up doesn't mean you have to completely change, right?" she says, her fingers pushing the corners of Orihime's cheeks up.

Orihime stares at her ridiculous appearance, a small huff escaping her mouth. That small huff turns into a hesitant giggle, which becomes a full laugh. Spinning around, Orihime ruffles Rukia's hair as well, ruining its utter perfection. Returning her grin of relief, Orihime stick out her tongue playfully. "Let's go have fun!"

* * *

Orihime gapes at all the colourful decorations that adorn the various houses and shops that line the streets of the small village. Several entertainment stalls also line the streets, all of them crowded with patrons of various ages and appearances. "S-sugoi!" She stammers, trying to take it all in, but finding herself unable to.

Beside her Ruika laughs, "Well if there's one thing the villagers of Higashisaido-machi knows how to do, it's throw a festival. Screw what everyone else says about the lower numbered districts." Grabbing her companion's hand, Rukia drags Orihime into the fray.

A short time later a dango stick is stuck in her mouth, and an Amaterasu mask sitting atop her head. Laughing, Orihime's eyes light up as she spots her favourite type of festival booth. "Kya! Here, Rukia-chan!" she says, pulling her over to the goldfish game booth. Crouching beside the young boy, who has a determined and focused look on his face, poi held tightly in one hand, water filled bowl clutched tightly in the other. Curiously, Orihime notes his almost black eyes and chocolate coloured skin contrasts pleasantly with his slightly faded yukata. "Kingyo-sukui!"

"It makes me happy to see someone your age continue to enjoy the simple things in life."

Looking up, Orihime beams up at the woman who has come to stand at her shoulder. She too has dark skin and hair. Judging by how her eyes are almost identical to the little boy's she supposes that she's his mother. "Hai! I always loved this game!" The woman laughs gently, her gaze moving to rest on the boy who's now cheering triumphantly as he captures another goldfish.

"Ma! Look! I got six goldfish!" He holds up the bag of fish proudly. His gaze then lands on Orihime. "Hi! Wanna see my fish?" He asks, thrusting the bag into Orihime's face.

Smiling gently, Orihime supports the bag from the bottom. "They're splendid!" She says. He grins proudly.

"I know right! I bet this'll bring a smile to Emo-kun's face." He says, turning to his mother with an eager grin. "Oh wait! I totally forgot! Hi! My name's Josef, Ma's name is Fiona. Nice to meet you!"

Blinking rapidly after the initial shock she got from hearing Josef call someone 'Emo-kun' Orihime manages to grin, "Pleasure's all mine Josef-kun, Fiona-san. Who's this 'Emo-kun'?" She asks as nonchalantly as possible.

"Josef-san. What do I do with all this?" A confused, tenor voice asks from behind them.

Very slowly Orihime and Rukia, (whom was simply observing up until now) turn around to see a dark haired man, with pale skin, 5"6 standing with a pile of stuffed animals in his arms. At least, that what Rukia notices. Orihime can only stare into his wide eyes.

His eyes of a glorious viridian colour.

Fiona lets out a small 'oh' and takes several of the stuffed animals out of his hands, "Hector-san, how did you get all of these?" She says in a motherly tone, somewhere in between the way you'd address a lost child, and a child who doesn't know what he's doing.

"I won them…actually." He mumbles, glancing down shyly. "It seems like I have an innate accuracy." That's when his eyes finally rest on Orihime's face, and his eyes widen. Orihime's heart flutters hopefully, her lips forming the name, but her voice failing her.

The same rush of emotion she felt when she regained her memories rips through her body again, and almost as if someone turned the mute button off, she's shouting at the top of her lungs. "Ulquiorra! Ulquiorra!"

Throwing her arms around his neck, she completely disregards the shocked looks she's getting from Fiona, Josef and all the bystanders. She doesn't care that Rukia looks like she's going to tease her forever about this occurrence, or about how all the stuffed animals are now lying forgotten on the ground. All he knows is that he's here, he's back, and he's her's again. Vaguely, Orihime realizes she's crying.

The stuffed animals were knocked from his arms as she threw her arms around his neck. He instantly stiffened, surprised at her unexpected affection, as she began to cry loudly into his blue yukata.

"Oh…I missed you," Orihime stammers, hiccuping between breaths. "But I found you, I finally…finally…found you."

Burying her head into his chest, Orihime feels him stiffen. Biting down on her lip, her fingers tighten their grip on his yukata.

Then his arms wrap around her body, and Orihime's tears return two fold as she realizes what it means. They're back. He has them. The precious memories of Hueco Mundo, and the life they shared together. Of wasabi, and letters, and Enraku, and love. Love against all reason and odds. Love that completely changed her whole world.

"Orihime,"

Her head snaps up when she hears his tenor voice call her name. Lantern light sparkling in his eyes, and countless pairs of eyes watching, he leans forwards. Eagerly, she stands on her toes to meet him, and when their lips meet, her eyes fluttering close. She smiles, as the familiar feeling she got when his lips come on contact with her own fills her body.

Finally, she is whole.

* * *

They manage to walk throughout the whole village and then some.

There's a silence between them, but Orihime doesn't care in the slightest. It's a comfortable one, in which they hold hands, and (in her case at least) one in which they can revel in the other's closeness.

In that time she told him about how long she had been looking for him. (Rounding it out so that it didn't sound as creepy). Judging by the focused look in his eyes, she could tell that he was puzzling out some minor details related to that five month hole in their lives. She doesn't dwell on it.

He's back and that's all that matters.

Orihime continues to tell him about the other important events that had happened in those five months. How Grimmjow and Nel vanished after they returned to the human world, and how Harribel was the only one whom she knew for sure was alive. How Ichigo defeated Aizen, even though he lost his powers. How school was like, the changes in her friends lives, every single happy memory she could think of.

To her surprise (and delight) he plants a kiss on her lips, effectively silencing her. Giggling to herself, she kisses back as she thanks Kami-sama for him. Knowing that the one person you loved, your soul mate, (pun intended) was somewhere out there was a reassuring fact. That is, unless you did not know if they'd remember you existed. Then it's unbearable.

But she found him. And Kami-sama, Orihime knows she's indefinitely lucky she found him.

It's true she still wants to live out her life as a 'normal' human. Go to collage. Become a teacher. That was always part of her life plan. But now, now she has a chance to love the once emotionless man with all her being.

Orihime squeezes his hand, and Ulquiorra turns to look at her. She smiles at him, and to her surprise and joy, his face is graced with a smile she has never seen before.

When she though about it, they were the impossible couple. Polar opposites isn't a strong enough term to describe how they related to each other, but they made it work. Where he was stoic, her emotions could be read like a book. But where she was scatterbrained, he was level-headed. They complimented each other. Dark to light. Ying to yang. Everyone knows that opposites attract.

And she'd be damned if it was any other way.

* * *

**YES MADE IT IN TIME FOR WEDNEDAY. **

**and so, another fanfiction ends. I apologize for the really crappy updating recently. Life. It's a pain. **

**Anyways, humongous thanks to everyone whose ever reviewed/followed/favourited this story! Your messages seriously boost my selfconfidence and help motivate me to write. **

**another GINORMUNGOUS thanks to TheCatWithTheHat. Holy Aizen, has it really been a year since we brought this story into existance? It's been a great year, and a highly educational and enjoyable experience. We should totally collab again, because if CTF/DTR taught me anything is that wheto multiple minds come together, awesome things are created. **

**and with that, I say farewell for now minna, and see you soon!**

**-moony**


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